Development of innovative antimicrobials against pathogens resistant to antimicrobials

¿De qué trata esta convocatoria?

The topic funds research and innovation projects that take existing antibacterial and antifungal candidates against selected resistant pathogens into clinical safety and efficacy studies.

¿Qué financia esta convocatoria?

Scope

The topic funds the development of existing innovative antibacterial and antifungal candidates, including antibody-based therapies, that meet at least one of the four WHO innovation criteria: new chemical class, new target, new mode of action, or no evidence of cross-resistance. Phage therapies are excluded. The work supports the European Medical Countermeasures Strategy and the forthcoming Critical Medicines Act.

Each proposal should explicitly state which one of the following pathogens it targets, and the work should address only that pathogen:

• carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB);
• carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) and third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales (C3GRE);
• carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa;
• methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA);
• drug-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus;
• drug-resistant Candida species.

Research areas

Proposals should address all of the following:

• where necessary, completing in-vivo tests in at least one animal model, or in humanised immune system models, and in non-human primates if regulators require it;
• production of GMP batches of the most promising candidates;
• clinical safety and efficacy studies in humans with a clear regulatory pathway to market authorisation.

Projects should engage with regulators in good time and build on initiatives such as the European Partnership on One Health Antimicrobial Resistance.

Expected outcomes

Better understanding of and access to new products against resistant bacteria and fungi, and candidate therapies available for clinical use in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

¿Cuándo termina el plazo?

17 de febrero de 2027 (104 días)

13 April 2027 (single-stage call).