The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will put $25 million toward combating health security threats, with hopes of significantly more funding next year, according to Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response.
An accelerator-like venture dubbed the Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures launched June 6, led by the agency's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, and driven by BARDA's expanded goals under the 21st Century Cures Act.
The venture, called DRIVe, will fund and occasionally take equity positions in projects tackling sepsis and early diagnosis tools for diseases that could pose a security risk, officials said in a press conference at the BIO International Convention in Boston, where they unveiled eight city hubs partnered with research institutes and technology incubators.
Funding efforts will combine to "lower the barriers for entry," Robert Kadlec, HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response, the office overseeing BARDA, said in an interview.
"We're trying to break the mold of how the government does business in this space," Kadlec said, discussing reduced paperwork, faster turnaround time and incentives for innovators and investors to get into the space.
DRIVe is looking to expand funding significantly in 2019, he said, adding that potential budget cuts for HHS — a looming specter with Trump administration budget plans — should not affect this program.
"We have emerging technologies and a pro-investment environment right now," Kadlec said. He added that the agencies are finalizing a plan with a "nonprofit, private entity" that will help them reach the investor and venture capitalist communities.
Referring to a BARDA task force, the Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator, also known as CARB-X, Kadlec said, "We know from experience with the CARB-X program that every dollar the federal government invested, there were eight more from private investments."
Founded in 2016, CARB-X has already attracted 28 companies and produced eight new classes of antibiotics, Kadlec said, adding that BARDA itself is only about 12 years old but has been a part of 35 FDA approved-therapies.
Sepsis is a $24 billion problem that kills 250,000 Americans a year, according to the agency's figures. Other diseases such as influenza and the Ebola virus — closely watched during its current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — pose a pandemic threat if not caught early.
"These are the things that nobody likes to talk about … like the Ebola events in Africa, as we're experiencing now, or a deliberate use of anthrax or smallpox," Kadlec said.
"We have a list of tough problems. We've only started off with two."
