The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched an effort to better protect warfighters from infectious microbes that are resistant to antibiotics. DARPA said Friday that its Harnessing Enzymatic Activity for Lifesaving Remedies or HEALR program seeks to design and deliver medical countermeasures to treat microbial infections that stem from multi-drug resistant organisms.
HEALR will leverage cellular science to further understand how to address and neutralize MDR microbes. The agency plans to post a broad agency announcement soon on the beta.SAM.gov website.
“HEALR presents the opportunity to identify drugs that are safer, more effective and better address drug resistance and bacterial infections than existing therapeutic modalities,” said Seth Cohen, who manages the HEALR program.
