Hackensack Meridian CDI to Accelerate Lifesaving Antibiotic Discovery with New Federal $37.8M Grant

Dr. David Perlin and team will lead institutions in pursuit of new therapies

The head of the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) and his collaborators from multiple institutions will lead a drug discovery accelerator to pursue desperately needed new antibiotics, through new federal funding.

The $37.8 million, 5-year grant was awarded to the Centers of Excellence for Translational Research (CETR) drug accelerator group led by David Perlin, Ph.D., chief scientific officer and executive vice president of the CDI. The award from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) follows several other major federal awards for drug-discovery teams led by Dr. Perlin, who brings together a host of institutions to collaborate and further the science.

This newly funded CETR group will continue to unite experienced drug developers from academic and pharmaceutical/biotech teams: the CDI, Rutgers University, Merck, and Prokaryotics.

“The group led by Dr. David Perlin is breaking ground on vital therapeutic discoveries,” said Ihor Sawczuk, M.D., FACS, president of Academics, Research, and Innovation at Hackensack Meridian Health, founding chair of the Hackensack Meridian Health Research Institute, and associate dean of Clinical Integration and professor and chair emeritus of Urology at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. “The CDI’s accelerator model of ‘breaking down silos’ for scientific advancement is a huge asset to our health network.”

The primary focus of the Center is to combat high-threat, drug-resistant pathogens, notably: the nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) Mycobacterium abscessus and Mycobacterium avium, which are cousins of tuberculosis; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as MRSA; Enterococci; Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacteria that causes gonorrhea; Hemophilus influenzae; Moraxella catarrhalis; Legionella pneumophila, the primary germ responsible for Legionnaire’s disease; Chlamydia pneumoniae; and Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii.

The initiative is split into five projects, led by: Thomas Dick, Ph.D., member of the CDI; David Alland, Ph.D., professor of Medicine and the chief of Infectious Disease and director of the Center for Emerging Pathogens and the Rutgers Regional Biocontainment Laboratories at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; Joel S. Freundlich, Ph.D., professor of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience and of Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School with membership in the Center for Emerging and Reemerging Pathogens, the Graduate Program in Medicinal Chemistry, and the Rutgers Cancer Institute; Dr. Perlin of the CDI in collaboration with Merck Sharp & Dohme; Terry Roemer, Ph.D., the chairman, founder, and chief scientific officer of Prokaryotics; and Richard Ebright, Ph.D. Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University Laboratory Director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology.

All five projects are at an advanced stage, and the team expects it to ultimately result in multiple Investigation New Drug (IND) submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to Dr. Perlin.

“Our strategy involves prioritizing the development of both narrow- and broad-spectrum small molecule inhibitors that block key enzymes including novel and prominent pharmacological targets,” he said. “Our projects are mature and encompass a variety of novel chemistries aimed at creating therapeutic agents that target these pathogens directly and overcome existing mechanisms of resistance.”

The collaboration between the academic and pharma partners is what drives the science forward to meet clinical needs, added Dr. Perlin.

“Strong industry collaboration facilitates downstream clinical development for the projects, while others are poised for licensing or partnership with biopharmaceutical companies,” added Dr. Perlin. “Through our concerted endeavors, we strive to address the critical need for new antibiotics to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.”

Research described in this press release was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number 1U19AI189168-01.