Of the 24 virus families known to cause human disease, eight are most likely to trigger future pandemics, according to experts.
The premise behind READDI, the Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Initiative, is to create a portfolio of drugs to target all eight virus families with pandemic potential, says READDI CEO Jimmy Rosen.
“We want to create two drugs per virus family, such that we have two different mechanisms of action to attack those viruses. The purpose of that is to stave off any sort of resistance to the drugs,” says Rosen during the latest episode of the video series “North Carolina Innovators You Should Know,” hosted by former Eshelman Innovation Executive Director John Bamforth.
That means a portfolio of 16 antiviral drugs to arm the world against any future pandemic.
What makes that ambitious plan possible is READDI’s signature approach. The biotechnology company, a nonprofit UNC-spinout located in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, develops “broad-spectrum” antivirals — drugs that work against every virus in a given virus family. READDI’s antivirals are designed to work against known threats, such as Ebola (a filovirus) and Dengue (a flavivirus), as well as yet-to-emerge threats.
