New Vaccine Hope Emerges in Fight Against Superbug Gonorrhea

BOSTON, MA – April 28, 2026 – In a significant step forward in the global battle against antimicrobial resistance, the Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) has awarded US$2.6 million to Dutch vaccine company AdJane. The funding is designated to advance a novel vaccine candidate designed to prevent gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection that is rapidly becoming untreatable with current antibiotics.

This investment highlights a critical shift in public health strategy, moving beyond a failing reliance on antibiotics towards preventing infection altogether. AdJane's innovative platform aims to succeed where natural immunity fails, offering a potential solution to a global health crisis affecting over 80 million people annually.

The Rising Tide of an Untreatable Superbug

Gonorrhea, caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, is one of the world's most common sexually transmitted infections. While many infections are asymptomatic, allowing the disease to spread silently, its consequences can be severe. Untreated gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility, and significantly increases the risk of HIV transmission. Newborns can also contract the infection during birth, leading to a form of conjunctivitis that can cause permanent blindness.

The most alarming aspect of this public health threat is the bacterium's remarkable ability to develop resistance to antibiotics. N. gonorrhoeae has systematically evolved to evade every class of drug ever used to treat it, earning it the moniker of a "superbug." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classified drug-resistant gonorrhea as one of the nation's most urgent public health threats.

Global health authorities are now facing the grim reality of dwindling treatment options. Resistance to ceftriaxone, the last-resort injectable antibiotic recommended for treatment, is on the rise. Recent data shows a worrying increase in resistant strains, threatening to make gonorrhea untreatable. This escalating resistance makes the cycle of reinfection—common because the body does not develop durable immunity after an infection—even more dangerous.

"Clinical management of gonorrhea is becoming increasingly complex due to rising antimicrobial resistance and limited treatment options," said Richard Alm, interim Chief of R&D at CARB-X. "A preventative vaccine is crucial to gaining control over this epidemic."

A Novel Defense: AdJane's Platform Technology

AdJane's vaccine candidate is built upon its proprietary native Outer Membrane Vesicle (nOMV) platform. OMVs are microscopic spheres naturally shed from the surface of bacteria. These vesicles are studded with proteins and other molecules—known as antigens—that the immune system can recognize and learn to fight. By using these naturally derived particles, a vaccine can present a wide array of antigens to the immune system in their native form, potentially generating a more robust and comprehensive immune response than vaccines based on single, purified proteins.

The company is employing what it calls a "heterologous approach." This strategy combines a broad, platform-driven antigenic background with the targeted expression of multiple, highly conserved gonococcal antigens. The goal is to create a single vaccine that can train the immune system to recognize and attack the N. gonorrhoeae bacterium from multiple angles, providing broad protection against its various strains.

"We are delighted to join the CARB-X portfolio and grateful for the support as we advance our vision to address antimicrobial resistance through our platform," said Anita Gashi, Managing Director of AdJane. "This award recognizes the potential of our next-generation nOMV platform to address global health challenges such as gonorrhea. Our heterologous approach enables the creation of a single component vaccine construct designed to deliver both broad and targeted immune protection, while supporting streamlined development and manufacturing."

Critically, AdJane's underlying nOMV platform has already completed a Phase I clinical trial, which demonstrated a favorable safety profile in humans, de-risking a key step in the development process for the new gonorrhea vaccine candidate.

Fueling the Pipeline: The Critical Role of CARB-X

The funding for AdJane's project underscores the vital role of public-private partnerships like CARB-X in addressing market failures in antibiotic and vaccine development. As a global non-profit, CARB-X focuses on supporting high-risk, early-stage projects that have the potential for significant public health impact but may struggle to attract traditional private investment.

Since its founding in 2016, CARB-X has supported 123 research and development projects across 14 countries, injecting vital resources into a pipeline that had stalled. This support has yielded tangible progress: 25 of its funded projects have advanced into or completed clinical trials, with three products having reached the market. CARB-X is backed by a global consortium of governments and foundations, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Wellcome, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Richard Alm of CARB-X added, "AdJane's approach represents a technically grounded strategy that aims to address key challenges in generating protective immunity to reduce the infection rate of gonorrhea and slow the spread of antimicrobial resistance."

As part of its commitment to global health equity, CARB-X requires all its product developers to create a Stewardship and Access Plan, outlining how they will ensure their products are used responsibly and made available in low- and middle-income countries where the need is often greatest.

Beyond Treatment: A Paradigm Shift for Global Sexual Health

The development of an effective gonorrhea vaccine would represent more than just a new medical tool; it would signal a paradigm shift in the fight against STIs and antimicrobial resistance. By preventing infections from occurring, a vaccine could dramatically reduce the demand for antibiotics, preserving the effectiveness of remaining drugs and slowing the emergence of new resistant strains.

This approach has a compelling scientific precedent. Researchers have observed that the meningococcal B vaccine, which also uses OMV technology, provides a degree of cross-protection against gonorrhea. This discovery has bolstered confidence that an OMV-based vaccine specifically designed for N. gonorrhoeae could be highly effective.

The public health implications are immense. A successful vaccine would not only curb the spread of gonorrhea but also prevent its devastating long-term complications, improving quality of life and saving healthcare systems billions of dollars in treatment and management costs. Furthermore, by reducing gonorrhea incidence, the vaccine could have a downstream effect on slowing HIV transmission.

For the millions of people affected by gonorrhea each year and for the global health community bracing for a post-antibiotic era, this new front in the war on superbugs represents a critical beacon of hope.