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TBI November 19th Breakfast: The International Consortium of Anti-virals

H1N1, or Swine flu as it has come to be known, has gotten a lot of press of late, but swine flu is not the only virus in the world taking a terrible toll. In fact some of the more notable viruses reeking havoc including AIDS, Dengue fever, Rotavirus and hepatitis C are just some of the many viral diseases out there that kill more than 5,000,000 people globally each year.

On Novembers 19th, TBI (The Biotechnology Initiative) welcomed ICAV’s Director of Corporate Strategy, Denis Ferkany as its featured speaker, to discuss the organization and its initiatives in the anti-viral space.

The organization has been in existence for five years and has become a key player in anti-viral research. Inspired by the SARS outbreak of 2003, it operates not just as a Canadian not-for-profit drug discovery and development organization but also as a global network with the goal of accelerating the discovery and development of anti-viral drugs at low cost.

In his presentation Ferkany highlighted the dangerous gap between the arms race that has gone on between viruses that could lead to future epidemics and our ability to hold them at bay. While vaccines are a means to combat viruses, vaccine production is not always sufficient, and many viruses have become drug resistant. As Ferkany explains, it is only a matter of time before we are hit by a truly devastating flu pandemic—one that might kill more people worldwide than have died of the plague and AIDS combined. As such, new antiviral therapies are required.

ICAV functions to fulfill this urgent need by building a pipeline of new anti-virals to overcome the rapid emergence of drug resistant viruses, while at the same time providing a strong first line of defense until effective vaccines are developed and deployed. ICAV also has another function, a most altruistic one at that, to offer relief from neglected diseases to people in underdeveloped countries.

In all, the ICAV Network is made up of 250 scientists from 28 countries. It hosts international workshops to help uncover neglected drug candidates and harvest the most promising leads from academic laboratories worldwide. So far the viruses targeted by ICAV include influenza, dengue, chikungunya, hepatitis B and C, Lassa, Yellow fever, HIV, Coxsackie and West Nile. In his presentation Ferkany touched upon ICAV’s network response to H1N1 with THumAbs or Truly Human Monoclonal AntiBodies against H1N1 or in laymans terms more effective antibodies. Thus far the network has produced and tested mAb in Vancouver in the laboratory of Dr. John Scharder. The network has also done in vivo testing in ferrets at the NRC-IBS in Ottawa, and held regulatory discussions with the FDA and Health Canada on clinical trial design.

There is much hope behind the success of this joint not-for-profit endeavor, but the task of raising funds to support this type of research effort is challenging. However, the organization thus far has found innovative ways to do just that. The economic impact that flu pandemics inflict on GDP is not lost on policy makers, which is why both governments and foundations have bonded with ICAV to provide funding for its research activities. ICAV also relies heavily on philanthropic funding and is currently working through how to best develop commercial partnerships and NGO’s.

It is safe to say that thanks to its novel collaborative model, ICAV is breaking new ground.