AVITHRAPID and Area Science Park Join Forces to Drive Antiviral Innovation
AVITHRAPID has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Area Science Park, a leading Italian research hub, to accelerate innovation in antiviral therapeutics and preventive strategies. This agreement marks a significant step forward in strengthening Europe’s ability to anticipate, prevent, and respond to future infectious disease threats. At its core lies a shared ambition: to build a sustainable infrastructure for pandemic preparedness and promote the 100-Day Response Framework—a model designed to identify effective clinical candidates against emerging pathogens within the first 100 days of an outbreak. Building on Three Pillars The 100-Day Response Framework is based on: Rapid pathogen characterization High-throughput screening of compound libraries to explore drug repurposing opportunities Acceleration of translational pipelines to move promising candidates quickly toward the clinic Advanced Platforms and Joint Opportunities Through its PRP@CERIC infrastructure, Area Science Park contributes advanced technological platforms and innovative strategies to the collaboration, strengthening Europe’s capacity to counter viral infections. Beyond scientific cooperation, the MoU also opens the door to: European joint funding initiatives Science communication and public engagement around pandemic response and infectious diseases These efforts aim not only to empower the scientific community, but also to foster a better-informed society and a more resilient healthcare ecosystem. The Market Case for Antivirals While vaccines play a crucial role in public health, they are often not available during the critical early window of a viral outbreak. Antiviral molecules, by contrast, can provide immediate therapeutic options—helping reduce severity, transmission, and pressure on healthcare systems. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of small-molecule antivirals which significantly reduced hospitalizations and deaths. Yet the antiviral market remains underdeveloped compared to vaccines, largely due to fragmented investment, long development cycles, and limited commercial incentives. This gap represents both a risk and an opportunity: Risk, because without a diversified antiviral pipeline, the world remains vulnerable to novel and re-emerging pathogens. Opportunity, because advancing broad-spectrum and repurposed molecules can open a new strategic market for rapid-response therapeutics, complementing vaccines and strengthening global health security. By investing in antiviral discovery and development, AVITHRAPID and its partners are not only driving scientific innovation but also reshaping the preparedness market—where speed, adaptability, and accessibility will define the healthcare responses of tomorrow.
AVITHRAPID Seminar Series: Advancing European Collaboration on Broad-Spectrum Antivirals
On May 19, 2025, AVITHRAPID held the second event in its official seminar series, strengthening ties with a key Horizon Europe sibling initiative: the NAVIPP Consortium (New Antivirals Against Infections with Pandemic Potential). This encounter reflects a shared vision—to accelerate the discovery and development of broad-spectrum antiviral solutions to better prepare Europe for future epidemic and pandemic threats. Over 35 participants from all around Europe have taken part in the online event. Strengthening Synergies Between Leading EU ConsortiaAVITHRAPID and NAVIP both operate under the same Horizon Europe framework and are united in their mission to boost Europe’s capabilities to detect, test, and advance new antiviral candidates. The seminar created space for each consortium to share updates on scientific progress, showcase technological strengths, and reflect on future possibilities for collaboration. The session featured insightful presentations from both consortia, emphasizing their complementary approaches and scientific strategies. Following these, a dynamic discussion explored shared priorities such as: NAVIPP: A Consortium with Deep Containment ExpertiseThe NAVIPP consortium, coordinated by ERINHA, benefits from an extensive network of high-biosafety laboratories across Europe and includes public research institutions, academic centers, and private sector innovators. Their work focuses on prioritized viral families, including flaviviruses and filoviruses, with promising results already emerging from their high-throughput screening efforts. These are now moving forward into validation using sophisticated in vitro and ex vivo models. AVITHRAPID: Building a Rapid-Response Antiviral PipelineAVITHRAPID, coordinated by Fraunhofer with contributions from 18 partners across eight countries, is assembling an integrated antiviral R&D pipeline. Its research activities span from hit identification and lead optimization to formulation, delivery, and clinical readiness—underpinned by in silico tools such as the Exscalate platform and reinforced by BSL3/4 laboratory capacity. The consortium is currently progressing a diverse portfolio of compounds, including: A Positive Outlook for Future CollaborationThe seminar confirmed a strong alignment between NAVIP and AVITHRAPID—not only in scientific focus but also in commitment to open collaboration. Both consortia expressed interest in: Conclusion: A Shared Commitment to Europe’s Health SecurityBy bringing together complementary strengths, this seminar marked a step forward in building a collaborative, agile, and innovation-driven antiviral research ecosystem in Europe. Through regular dialogue and aligned scientific strategies, projects like AVITHRAPID and NAVIP are showing how Europe can lead the way in preparing for the infectious disease challenges of tomorrow. Stay connected as AVITHRAPID continues to build bridges and deliver results across the European research landscape.
AVITHRAPID project meets HERA
On 3 March 2025, the AVITHRAPID consortium met HERA during the first AVITHRAPID seminar to foster collaboration and explore new opportunities in the domain of antivirals as response against pandemic infectious diseases. During the online meeting, Prof. Bjoern Windshuegel and Prof. Vincenzo Summa of the Consortium led the introduction of activities and services of AVITHRAPID project, with perspectives on advancing in the field of the early and late-stage development of antivirals, while Dr. Joao Madera offered an insight of HERA work and achievements in the framework of a needed end-to-end approach for supporting medical countermeasures from R&D to stockpiling. The seminar was a pivotal opportunity to further invest resources and competences at EU level to prepare for overarching health threat and co-ordinate developments and results. HERA promotes advanced research and innovation to develop effective, safe and affordable countermeasures and in this view the two parts have started a fruitful collaboration. Presentation by Prof. Bjoern Windshuegel Presentation by Prof. Vincenzo Summa