-- Deals mark an important step toward AMR Action Fund's goal of bringing two 
to four new antibiotics to market to take on growing threat of drug-resistant 
bacteria

The AMR Action Fund, the world's largest public-private partnership investing 
in biotech companies that are developing antibiotics, announced today that it 
has invested in Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT) and Venatorx Pharmaceuticals. 
The transactions mark the Fund's first investments and are an important step 
toward its goal of bringing to market new treatments for priority pathogens 
identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.

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"From inception, the AMR Action Fund has focused on identifying investments 
that will yield urgently needed treatments and catalyze long-term innovation to 
take on the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which now kills 
more people annually than HIV/AIDS or malaria," said Bill Burns, Board Chair of 
the AMR Action Fund. "Welcoming Adaptive Phage Therapeutics and Venatorx 
Pharmaceuticals as our first portfolio companies demonstrates that we are well 
on our way to fulfilling this important mission."

Drug-resistant bacterial infections directly kill an estimated 1.27 million 
people annually. Few treatments are in development that target priority 
pathogens, and investment into antimicrobials has not kept pace with the threat 
to global health security. Recognizing this problem, over twenty pharmaceutical 
companies that are members of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical 
Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), together with the WHO, the European 
Investment Bank, and the Wellcome Trust, launched the AMR Action Fund by 
raising nearly $1 billion. The Fund, which operates independently, makes equity 
investments in biotechs with the overall goal of bringing two to four new 
antibiotics to patients within a decade.

"Adaptive Phage Therapeutics and Venatorx Pharmaceuticals are poised to change 
the treatment landscape for drug-resistant infections," said AMR Action Fund 
CEO, Henry Skinner. "While this is a major milestone for the Fund, our work is 
just beginning. We plan to commit over $100 million in capital this year to 
companies developing clinically differentiated antimicrobials with the 
potential to treat the most urgent unmet clinical needs, and we will continue 
investing in promising biotechs in the years ahead to ensure that patients 
around the world have the treatments they need. Our investments are 
substantial, but we alone are not enough to take on the global challenge of 
AMR. It is now imperative that policymakers around the world enact market 
reforms to support investment in these urgently needed medications."

APT's approach leverages an ever-growing library of systematically discovered, 
selected, catalogued, and curated bacteriophages (phages), naturally occurring 
viruses that infect and kill bacteria, which collectively provide broad 
coverage against many high-priority antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Phages from 
APT's phage bank are matched to treat patients' infections through a 
proprietary susceptibility assay, and are being tested on a range of 
infections, including prosthetic joint infections, bone infections 
(osteomyelitis), and lung infections. The AMR Action Fund's investment in APT 
was executed as an extension to a Series B round led by Deerfield Management 
Company.

Greg Merril, APT CEO and Co-Founder, said, "We are thrilled to be among the AMR 
Action Fund's first portfolio companies and eager to leverage their scientific 
and industry expertise as we continue to advance our phage-based therapies 
through clinical testing."

Venatorx Pharmaceuticals' pipeline includes beta-lactam / beta-lactamase 
inhibitors in intravenous and oral formulations that target drug-resistant 
gram-negative bacteria. Cefepime-taniborbactam, the company's Phase III 
intravenous product, is being developed for the treatment of complicated 
urinary tract infections (cUTI), hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia, and 
ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia. Recently announced Phase III data 
showed that cefepime-taniborbactam was superior to meropenem in the treatment 
of cUTI. The AMR Action Fund's investment in Venatorx was executed as part of a 
Series C round, with Abingworth Management joining as a co-investor.

"This latest round of investment puts us in a strong position to seek 
regulatory approval of cefepime-taniborbactam while also driving forward other 
products in our pipeline," said Venatorx Pharmaceuticals' President and CEO, 
Chris Burns.

Martin Heidecker, AMR Action Fund's Chief Investment Officer, added, "Our 
investments in Adaptive Phage and Venatorx are built on strong partnerships 
with co-investors who, like us, see the potential to generate significant value 
in companies pursuing novel treatments to drug-resistant infections."

About the AMR Action Fund

The AMR Action Fund is the world's largest public-private partnership investing 
in antimicrobial treatments. The Fund will invest US$1 billion into 
clinical-stage companies to help bring new antibiotics to market. The concept 
was developed by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & 
Associations and its member biopharmaceutical companies, in collaboration with 
the World Health Organization, the European Investment Bank, and the Wellcome 
Trust. Investors include: Almirall; Amgen; Bayer; Boehringer Ingelheim; 
Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation; Chugai; Daiichi-Sankyo; Eisai; Eli Lilly and 
Company; the European Investment Bank (with the support of the European 
Commission under Horizon 2020, the 2014-2020 European Union research and 
innovation program); GlaxoSmithKline; Johnson & Johnson; LEO Pharma; Lundbeck; 
Menarini; Merck; Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany; Novartis; Novo Nordisk; Novo 
Nordisk Foundation; Pfizer; Roche; Shionogi; Takeda; Teva; UCB; and the 
Wellcome Trust

SOURCE: AMR Action Fund

CONTACT: Chris Sweeney, chris.sweeney@amractionfund.com