Biomimetic-Lead Discovery Platform for Development of Antiviral

Global sea- and land-borne deployment exposes US Naval and Marine Forces todiverse: 1) littoral terrains, 2) natural disease patterns and 3) vectors indifferent societies and geoepidemiological environments. This biothreatlandscape includes a spectrum of 'existing and anticipated' or 'emerging andunexpected' viral pathogens of natural or recombinantly engineered origin ---threat agents potentially accessible to asymmetrical terrorist elements fordirect delivery or stealthily-vectored insertion against US forces. With fewantiviral lead pharmacophores effective against a broad taxonomy of DNA andenveloped RNA viral threats, Solus INC. proposes R&D implementation of aninnovative biomimetic lead-discovery platform for rapid molecular-leveldevelopment of broadly-canvassed antiviral countermeasures. Drawing on 40millennia of ethnopharmacological experience in societies with access tonatural source antiviral remedies, a series of promising source botanicalswill be probed for antiviral leads, using a proprietary solid state molecularfractionation matrix coupled to assays of antiviral activity againstEbola, Marburg and Poxviruses. Unlike traditional pharmacogenomic methods,botanical 'cytosynthetic factories' directly linked to fractionalpurification technology will provide high-throughput capabilities forbiocombinatorial discovery and production of antivirals. Such countermeasuresare more likely to prove effective in neutralizing unexpected or initiallyun-identified viral pathogens which may be potentially encountered in futuresettings. A broader inventory of antiviral countermeasures will provide a moreeffective shield against the potential of explosive exponential host-to-hostspread encountered with many viral pathogens, whose route of transmission canextend from aerosolized to vector-borne spread. More versatile antiviralseffective in a range of applications from 1) prophylactic protection, to 2)'treatment-on-exposure', as well as further into the timeline 3) beyondinitial exposure and 4) during acute onset of symptoms would provide a vitaladjunct to the traditional vaccine based viral control strategies where thelikely agent and its genomic or proteomic makeup are better known. Amolecular toolbox of antiviral agents would provide a valuable set of'forward viral defense' countermeasures for initial use against classes ofagents whose initial identity and makeup might be unfamiliar orunanticipated. The proposed biomimetic lead-discovery platform mergesstate-of-the art solid-state fractionation matrix technology, viral activityassay, and biocombinatorial 'cytosynthetic pharmacophore factories' coupledto fractional purification technology, a design with extensive applicabilityas an enabling technology for broader avenues of drug discovery. Thetechnology to be innovated thus meets applications needs in combat theaterand homeland biological defense while providing a roadmap for development ofenabling technology products for the commercial biomedical sector. Inaddition to defense sector customers, commercial markets ripe for effectiveexploitation include physician and hospital user communities throughout thedomestic medical market, as well as biomedical research and pharmaceuticalindustry. In particular, the proposed technology is widely applicable notonly to discovery of antimicrobials but to broader ranges of organic drugleads. Antivirals and their enbabling discovery technology are also ofsignificant market importance throughout veterinary medicine, animalhusbandry, agriculture and food industries, components of which are alsopotential targets of agro-terrorism.