Avails Medical awarded additional $1.7M in CARB-X funding for the development of its rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing device to identify the most effective antibiotic therapy

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Sep 01, 2022, 08:00 ET

MENLO PARK, Calif., Sept. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

Avails Medical, a pioneer in rapid, automated, and fully electrical antibiotic susceptibility testing (eAST^™) announced today the transition to the next phase of its CARB-X grant. Avails was awarded an additional $1.7 million in non-dilutive funding from CARB-X, the Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator. CARB-X is a global non-profit partnership based at Boston University School of Law and dedicated to funding the development of new antibiotics, vaccines, diagnostics and other products to address the rising global threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Funds will support the accelerated development of the Avails Medical eAST system, a fully electrical antibiotic susceptibility testing device that reduces the time-to-results to an average of five hours. The Avails platform will enable health care providers to more efficiently determine the most effective antibiotic treatment for patients with severe bloodstream infections, particularly those involving multidrug-resistant pathogens.

"We are delighted to support the important work of Avails Medical", said Erin Duffy, Ph.D., Chief of Research and Development of CARB-X. "The Avails eAST diagnostic platform offers a very practical solution to reducing time to actionable AST results, which is critical in guiding antibiotic therapy decisions, especially in hospital centers that are human-resource constrained."

"Every hour counts for a patient with sepsis. Avails' unique rapid eAST technology presents a meaningful opportunity to improve patient care by shortening the time to effective antibiotics at an affordable cost, "said Eszter Deak, Ph.D., Director of Scientific and Medical Affairs at Avails Medical. "We are honored and pleased that CARB-X continues to recognize the value of Avails Medical's eAST system and supports us in our endeavor to significantly improve therapy decision support for bloodstream infections," said Oren Knopfmacher, CEO of Avails Medical.

Avails could be eligible for additional funding from CARB-X upon successful completion of milestones.

Contact:
Avails Medical:
[email protected]

Acknowledgement and disclaimer:
Research reported in this press release is supported by CARB-X. CARB-X's funding for this project is sponsored by Federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; Antibacterials Branch under agreement number: 75A50122C00028, and by awards from Wellcome (WT224842), and Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). 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 Avails Medical Inc.
Avails Medical, Inc., a privately held company, was founded to help fight one of today's biggest global health threats - antibiotic resistance. The Avails all-electrical technology platform is designed to significantly reduce the amount of time required to obtain the reliable antibiotic susceptibility data required to enable accurate therapy decisions. Avails' electronic biosensor technology is designed to improve speed and accuracy in pathogen quantification and susceptibility testing directly from human specimens by eliminating crude, time-consuming culturing steps. www.availsmedical.com

About CARB-X
Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) is a global non-profit partnership dedicated to accelerating early development antibacterial R&D to address the rising global threat of drug-resistant bacteria. CARB-X is led by Boston University and funding is provided by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Wellcome, a global charity working to improve health worldwide, Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care's Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and with in-kind support from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). CARB-X supports the world's largest and most innovative pipeline of preclinical and early-stage development products against antibiotic-resistant infections. CARB-X is headquartered at Boston University School of Law. For more information, view a fact sheet on CARB-X's first five years and the 2020-2021 annual report. Visit carb-x.org and follow CARB-X on Twitter @CARB_X.