The Gillings School of Global Public Health was awarded a $65 million grant by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to establish an Antiviral Drug Discovery Center that will combat pandemic-level viruses like COVID-19.
The AViDD center being established at Gillings is one of nine across the country that will be established using NIAID funding. The grants are part of the NIAID’s Antiviral Program for Pandemics, an intensive research program developed to further therapeutics for COVID-19.
AViDD centers conduct research involving the early identification of new viral targets and use the resources of their industry partners to speed up research and development efforts.
The center is closely affiliated with the University’s Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Initiative, which aims to improve drug discovery and development processes and develop antiviral drug solutions for the future.
Mark Heise is a professor of genetics in the UNC School of Medicine who co-founded READDI alongside Ralph Baric and Nat Moorman.
“We are going to learn new information about every virus that we work with. We're going to essentially really move into areas that are on the cutting edge, and so to be involved in that sort of effort is really exciting,” Heise said.
The READDI-AViDD Center is a public-private partnership equipped with an interdisciplinary research team from Gillings, the UNC School of Medicine and the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The project also received funding from N.C. Collaboratory and the Research Triangle Institute.
The original READDI program was supported through UNC's Creativity Hubs initiative and the Eshelman Institute for Innovation. It also received funding from the N.C. General Assembly and N.C. Congressional delegation members.
The READDI-AC team will use innovative technology to develop oral therapies for viruses that are likely to cause another pandemic. The center will also help develop antivirals that will reduce the risk of sickness and mortality for future diseases that are highly contagious.