Professor Lieve Naesens of KU Leuven’s Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy (Rega Institute), in collaboration with CD3, acquires substantial Open Philanthropy funding to prepare against influenza pandemics.
Already prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. Lieve Naesens joined forces with the Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3) to develop influenza virus inhibitors that are well-suited for pandemic preparedness.
This resulted in the discovery of a mechanistically novel class of influenza polymerase inhibitors. Based on already acquired insights in their target and binding mode, we are fine-tuning this compound class towards the right candidate compound which could enter clinical development against influenza.
The Open Philanthropy funding was granted through the Pandemic Antiviral Discovery Initiative. It is instrumental to realize the primary goal of our research, which is to develop antiviral strategies that can make a difference.
