Nucleic Acid-Based Platform Development for Flexible and Strategic Therapeutics

BARDA is requesting abstract submissions for projects that aim to advance the development of rapid response, nucleic acid-based platforms for the treatment of viral infections from multiple viral families. These platforms may include, but are not limited to, nucleic acid-expressed mAbs, double-stranded RNA-mediated interference (RNAi), clustered regular interspaced short palindromic repeat-associated proteins (CRISPR-Cas), and locked nucleic acids (LNAs). Candidate platforms should have the capacity to generate therapeutic candidates able to target a diverse set of viral families and a strong mechanistic justification for their use during acute viral infection or for use as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Preference will be given to submissions that include the following: 1. proposed specific technical advancements that will improve the utility of the platform, and 2. proof of concept efficacy studies in vitro (or in vivo if feasible within the funding constraints) that will evaluate an investigational product against a relevant viral target.