Vedanta Biosciences Awarded $3.9 Million from CARB-X to Ready VE707 for First-in-Human Study for Prevention of Multidrug-Resistant Infections

CAMBRIDGE, MA, April 30, 2024 – Vedanta Biosciences, a clinical-stage company that is developing a potential new category of oral therapies based on defined bacterial consortia, today announced that it has been awarded $3.9 million in funding from the global nonprofit Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X), to advance Vedanta’s VE707 preclinical development program for reducing colonization and preventing subsequent infections caused by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). The funding was triggered by Vedanta’s completion of certain milestones for VE707, which were supported by previous CARB-X awards totaling $5.7 million.

The new funding will be directed toward preparing VE707 for an investigational new drug (IND) submission to support a potential first-in-human (FIH) clinical study. VE707 is a defined bacterial consortium tailored to address major MDRO infections. MDROs are responsible for hundreds of thousands of infections in high-risk patients in the United States and Europe each year. These treatment-resistant infections are projected to result in approximately 10 million deaths per year worldwide by 2050, surpassing the projected annual number of deaths caused by cancer, and with a cumulative cost to the global economy as high as $100 trillion¹.

“We believe live biotherapeutic products can become an important tool to address the global medical threat represented by MDROs, through their impact on the intestinal reservoir that is often the source of serious infections. By reducing the pathogen burden in the gut, VE707 could help prevent infections in high-risk populations. This additional funding will enable Vedanta to complete key manufacturing-related activities and an IND submission for VE707 to ready it for the clinic,” said Bernat Olle, PhD, chief executive officer of Vedanta. “We thank CARB-X for its continued support of this program.”

“Vedanta’s VE707 program represents a novel approach to limit the spread of drug-resistant bacteria that are responsible for an estimated 15,000 deaths in the US each year²”, said Erin Duffy, PhD, Chief of Research & Development at CARB-X. “VE707 could offer physicians an option to prevent serious infections with the most common hospital-acquired MDROs, including those classified as Urgent and Serious Threats by CDC. We look forward to VE707 completing preclinical and manufacturing activities with our support and its advancement into human studies.”

Research reported in this press release is supported by CARB-X. CARB-X’s funding for this project has been provided in part with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; under agreement number: 75A50122C00028, and by awards from Wellcome (WT224842), Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The content of this press release is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of CARB-X or any of its funders.

About VE707

VE707 is a preclinical-stage defined bacterial consortium therapeutic candidate that was rationally designed to reduce gut colonization with disease-causing MDRO pathogens, including carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria. CRE and ESBL producers are some of the most common causes of hospital-acquired infections, affecting more than 500,000 intensive care unit, renal dialysis, solid organ transplant, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients each year in the United States and Europe. Infections with these organisms can result in life-threatening treatment delays or death, and result in approximately $2 billion in healthcare-associated costs due to patient isolation practices alone.

About CARB-X

CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator) is a global non-profit partnership dedicated to supporting early-stage antibacterial research and development to address the rising threat of drug-resistant bacteria. CARB-X supports innovative therapeutics, preventatives and rapid diagnostics. CARB-X is led by Boston University and funded by a consortium of governments and foundations. CARB-X funds only projects that target drug-resistant bacteria highlighted on the CDC’s Antibiotic Resistant Threats list, or the Priority Bacterial Pathogens list published by the WHO, with a priority on those pathogens deemed Serious or Urgent on the CDC list or Critical or High on the WHO list. https://carb-x.org/ | X (formerly Twitter) @CARB_X

About Vedanta Biosciences

Vedanta Biosciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing medicines for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The company’s lead assets are potential first-in-class oral therapies – VE303, soon to begin a Phase 3 registrational trial for prevention of recurrent C. difficile infection, and VE202, in a Phase 2 trial for treatment of ulcerative colitis. Vedanta’s pipeline has been built using the company’s industry-leading product engine for the development of therapies based on defined consortia of bacteria grown from pure clonal cell banks. The product engine, supported by broad foundational intellectual property, includes one of the largest libraries of bacteria isolated from the human microbiome, vast clinical datasets, proprietary capabilities in consortium design, and end-to-end CGMP manufacturing capabilities at commercial launch scale.

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¹Antimicrobial Resistance: Tackling a crisis for the health and wealth of nations. The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance Chaired by Jim O’Neill December 2014 [accessed April 24, 2024]

²CDC. Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2019 [accessed April 24, 2024]