UNC-Chapel Hill researchers receive federal grant to help stave off another pandemic

The hardest part of preparing for future pandemics is that researchers rarely know which virus will strike.

“We didn’t know about SARS-CoV-2 until it emerged,” said Ralph Baric, a coronavirus expert at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “How do you develop a drug that works against an unknown?”

Using a newly awarded $65 million dollar federal grant, UNC-Chapel Hill researchers will create a new antiviral drug discovery center to tackle that question. The ultimate goal is to develop drugs that could be rapidly developed to combat future pandemics.

The center will work with the university’s Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Initiative, which pools the resources of academics and pharmaceutical companies to “give humanity an early advantage against future diseases”.

Baric will lead the group as it creates treatments for virus families that could pose a threat.

“The idea is that in a future pandemic, if we didn’t have a drug that worked, we would have a core set of molecules that are close enough so that you’re not starting at home plate, you’re starting at second or third base,” he said.

The team will focus on coronaviruses, flaviviruses (which includes Zika), alphaviruses and filoviruses (which includes Ebola). These virus families have been rapidly evolving in the 21st century and, except for coronaviruses, don’t have any approved antivirals.

The center’s strategy is to target proteins that are common across virus families to ensure that the drug will work against most, if not all, members of that family.

Tim Willson, co-director and professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, said their team is focused on microscopic proteins called enzymes that viruses use to replicate in human cells.

Some of these enzymes are so essential to the virus’ survival that even as it evolves, those proteins are likely to stay unchanged, making them a reliable way to target families with a diverse variety of viruses.

Over the course of several years, the team will study the enzymes of interest, develop drugs to inhibit these enzymes and then test the medications on animal models.

“If one of those viruses mutates and has emerged as a new threat to human health, the compounds can go straight into clinical trials,” Willson said.

A similar strategy was used to develop medications for COVID-19, which is part of the reason antivirals like Remdesivir were developed so quickly, Baric said.

UNC Chapel Hill was one of nine institutions to receive a sizeable grant from the National Institute of Health for antiviral drug development.

Baric said he hopes these investments into pandemic preparedness represents a shift in attitudes about drug development.

Interest in funding this research often wanes after the height of the crisis is over. The alarming number of epidemics and pandemics that have occurred in the 21st century points to a problem that needs more sustained funding, he said.

“Nature’s telling us something— I think we need to be prepared,” he said.