The University of Washington (UW), University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, US, and Kineta have been granted a $8.1m biodefense award by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
The funding aims to advance the development of antiviral therapeutics for treating diseases caused by Ebola, plague, Japanese encephalitis, and other lethal pathogens.
UW researchers will provide bioinformatics and systems biology genomics analysis and Kineta will lead drug optimization and in-vivo pharmacology work while UTMB professors will oversee research on bio-safety level 4 viral agents.
UW immunology professor and principal investigator of the grant Michael Gale said the award enables them to advance further work with high priority viruses.
"By utilizing an innate immune pathway we hope to develop better drugs that won't be out-smarted by viral mutation," Gale added.
The NIAID grant will also help Kineta to progress two small molecule drug candidates into human clinical trials.
