The Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals has announced a new initiative to accelerate promising, near-term therapies to treat coronavirus (COVID-19) and its complications and battle future pandemic threats.
HDI says that it has developed "a proven model that has enabled scientists in academia to accelerate their breakthrough drug discoveries toward trials in patients" thanks to its portfolio of 120 drugs-in-the-making at 54 leading academic centers in North America and the United Kingdom.
Per University Hospitals, the initiative includes a five-part suite of actions consisting of:
- Allocate Harrington Discovery Institute operating and grantmaking capital towards near-term COVID-19-related treatment efforts.
- Accelerate programs in its current portfolio that may target Coronavirus and its clinical ramifications. This entails advancing treatments that may enter clinical trials right away.
- Issue a transatlantic call for proposals for novel therapies that target Coronavirus and its clinical impact, particularly on the lungs and heart.
- Aggressively seek broad spectrum antivirals that may avert the next viral pandemic, supporting the well-accepted position in public health that future viral pandemics, whether Coronavirus-related or otherwise, are likely.
- Raise new capital targeted specifically at advanced and breakthrough treatments for pandemic viruses.
HDI will make information about each of the five prongs available to the public and its partners. An update on the accelerated timeline will also be available soon. Those interested in the project are encouraged to visit HarringtonDiscovery.org.
“In our pipeline, we have medicines that may help patients right now,” said Harrington Discovery Institute president, Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Chair of Cardiovascular Innovation and Professor of Medicine at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University. “International leaders have stated that we are at war against the novel Coronavirus. Frankly, we have responsibility to contribute. Harrington Discovery Institute is dedicated to using its platform for academic scientists, and the associated pipeline, to source next-generation medicines for unmet needs. This pandemic represents a great unmet need of our time.”