Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $415,000 to Stanford University to support work led by Professor Jeffrey Glenn to test the efficacy of a universal antiviral drug candidate against all influenza strains. An effective pan-influenza antiviral drug could avert hundreds of thousands of deaths annually and minimize the spread of highly infectious and lethal strains of the virus. Professor Glenn intends to use this funding to conduct protective assays in ferrets, a transmission study, and a pharmacokinetics and distribution analysis.
This follows Open Philanthropy's June 2020 support and falls within its work on scientific research, specifically within its interest in science supporting biosecurity and pandemic preparedness.