Nanoparticle-assisted Small Molecules as Broadly Active Antiviral Agents

There is an increasing threat to warfighters from emerging viruses that have a high degree of pathogenicity and fatality. These highly infectious viruses are a great concern of being weaponized to endanger both civilian and warfighter health. The best weapon against potential infections by these viruses is vaccination. After exposure and infection, the most effective option of countermeasure is delivery of antiviral drugs. Despite great successes of developing “one bug–one drug” antiviral drugs for some viruses such as influenza virus, there exist no FDA approved vaccines or drugs to treat alphaviruses, filoviruses, bunyaviruses, arenaviruses, paramyxoviruses, and coronaviruses. Additionally, in the event of a virus outbreak or biological attack, the identity of the species or strain of virus will not be known immediately, further motivating broadly active anti-viral approaches. Overall, there is an urgent civilian and military need to develop a broadly active antiviral agent that can effectively mitigate the future threat of these dangerous emerging viruses. In order to enable protection against multiple families of emerging viruses, Luna proposes to develop a nanoparticle-assisted small molecule as a broadly active antiviral agent.