Public-private partnership aims to develop novel oral antibiotic

A public-private partnership between federal agencies and Spero Therapeutics, Inc. announced on Monday will strive to develop an oral antibiotic to treat infections resulting from biothreat pathogens like anthrax, plague, and antibiotic-resistant infections.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Spero Therapeutics of Cambridge, Mass., are working to develop the novel oral antibiotic, SPR994.

ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA) will provide up to $44.2 million over five years if all milestones are met. Initially, Spero Therapeutics will receive $15.7 million over three years to conduct studies on drug characterization, drug manufacturing, and drug efficacy.

“Antibiotic resistance is a growing threat to our national health security as well as to global health,” BARDA Director Rick Bright said. “This project brings together partners with unique expertise to focus on a common goal: protecting health on a daily basis and saving lives in an attack involving some of the most serious biological threats our country faces.”

DTRA will also undertake non-clinical studies to test five priority pathogens that have been identified by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. These bacteria can cause deadly infections like glanders, melioidosis, tularemia, plague, and anthrax.

If successful, the public-private partnership will result in the first oral antibiotic for the carbapenem antibiotics class of drugs. SPR994 has demonstrated early promise in treating all five biodefense pathogens and gram-negative bacteria, which can complicate urinary tract infections and cause antibiotic resistance.