US Gov’t COVID-19 Pandemic Response Includes $67-M Budget for Scripps Research

Scripps Research received funding from the National Institutes of Health over three years, with a possible renewal of two more years, and will be called the Center for Antiviral Medicines and Pandemic Preparedness or CAMPP.

This will be one of the nine Antiviral Drug Discovery Centers for Pathogens of Pandemic Concerns sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an SDNews report said

According to Sumit Chanda, Ph.D., the project co-lead investigator, the next pandemic is when not "if," and with CAMPP, "we have a unique opportunity" to prepare for that occurrence. Chanda is also a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research.

The AViDD Centers program is one of the government's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. It is also aimed at the dugs' near-term development against viruses with pandemic potential, including filoviruses like Ebola virus; coronaviruses, flaviviruses such as yellow fever virus, Zika virus, and dengue virus; paramyxoviruses, togaviruses, and bunyaviruses.

The New Pandemic Preparedness Center

Arnab Chatterjee, Ph.D., vice president of Medicinal Chemistry of Calibr, Scripps Research's drug development arm, said, bringing together exceptional expertise with Calibr's drug discovery infrastructure allows the critical drug combination tools needed for this, as well as the future pandemic threats.

In addition, a similar La Jolla Light report said, the discovery expertise and capabilities are unique in the academic research field, not to mention are crucial elements of CAMPP.

This new center will leverage a substantial discovery infrastructure and initiatives for health drugs worldwide. Calibr has a built-in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcom trust.

A Pledge to Antivirals Against Coronaviruses

Essentially, Calibr had already made a major pledge to antivirals against coronaviruses with its drug repurposing initiatives and its development of new antiviral agents that are progressing into clinical development.

The other participants of CAMPP bring complementary expertise in viral targets, virology, chemistry, and drug discovery and delivery.

These institutions comprise the Washingon University in St Louis, Icahn Schoo of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and the University. San Diego.

Scripps Research is bringing its renowned infectious disease, structural biology, chemical biology, and animal or organoid modeling teams to this initiative and its distinctive multidisciplinary environment.

Co-lead investigator Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Ph.D., said they are very excited to continue their previous collaborations with the group of Dr. Chanda and Dr. Chatterjee for the discovery and advancement of novel antivirals that combat pathogenic viruses, which include SARS-CoV-2.

Garcia-Sastre is also a professor in the Department of Microbiology and director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine.

Fight Against Viruses with Pandemic Potential

Initiatives of the new Center will include the next-generation drugs' discovery and development to fight coronaviruses and other viruses that have pandemic potential by targeting known targets and discovering new paradigms.

The CAMPP portfolio includes programs at a later stage that are anticipated to move through Investigational New Drug-enabling studies and clinical development over the course of the funding period, not to mention highly motivated, early-stage ones.

Over the funding period, the Center will construct multidisciplinary research capabilities that can quickly be refocused in a new pandemic condition.

Commenting on the expertise they bring, Chanda said, should enable them to develop effective new approaches and drugs that target viral proteins that had been considered inaccessible.

A report about the recent grant is shown on Scripps Research's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on the Pandemic in Science Times.