The ASAP Discovery Consortium

@asapdiscovery.bsky.social

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ASAP uses artificial intelligence and computational chemistry to accelerate structure-based open science antiviral drug discovery and deliver oral antivirals for pandemics with the goal of global, equitable, and affordable access.

Members of Dr. White’s lab, from left to right, wearing white lab coats: Briana McGovern, BS, Senior Research Associate; Meg Gordon, BA, Research Associate; Dr. White; Dr. Suazo; Jared Benjamin, MS, Research Associate.
Peter Sjö giving an overview of the COVID Moonshot progression of antivirals from the COVID Moonshot Science paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo7201
Jeroen Kruter presenting a slide about INFECTA: INFECTA: Dedicated facility To accelerate pharmaceutical development for infectious diseases through innovative research methodologies, strategic collaborations, with a commitment to improving global health outcomes. Realization of early phase clinical research infection unit: - INFECTA-NL servers as supervisory board for INFECTA - Private Limited Company is overseen by directors Ingrid de Visser and Meta Rostenberg - Non-profit purpose Purpose build: - 20 isolation beds (BSL3) - Outpatient clinic - Lab facilities including BSL3/GMP manufacturing Strong legacy from Centre for Human Drug Research and Leiden Medical Center
Slide presented by Juan C. de la Torre: Impact of mammarenaviruses on human health: * Lassa virus (LASV): The underrated human pathogen of West Africa * South American hemorrhagic fever mammarenaviruses * The globally distributed prototypic mammarenaviruses LCMV as a neglected human pathogen * Recently discovered mammarenaviruses of unknown pathogenic potential for humans
Warren Thompson presenting a slide showing the Diamond Light Source XChem facility capabilities for accelerated Design-Make-Test-Analyze cycles, including collaborative data dissemination, cloud-based digitised chemistry, high throughput automated beamline, and the creation of AI-data sources for predicting ligand binding for drug discovery.
ACS talk 4181593 - Discovery of non-peptidomimetic oral combined MERS and SARS-CoV-2 anti-virals Presented by Ed Griffen Part of the session "Developing Countermeasures for Viruses of Pandemic Potential" Room: Digital Session (Digital Meeting) Overview: The COVID-19 pandemic was a stark reminder that a barren global antiviral pipeline has grave humanitarian consequences. Pandemics could be prevented, in principle, by accessible, easily deployable broad-spectrum oral antivirals. Here we report the discovery of a family non-peptidomimetic spirolactams that target critical pathogenic coronaviridae including SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. As part of the ASAP AViDD centre(www.asapdiscovery.org) we expanded the work of the COVID Moonshot's drug discovery campaign targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease to deliver orally active compounds with promising in vivo profiles. Using a combination of active learning based medicinal chemistry, alchemical free energy calculations and structure-based design we were able to extend the coronavirus spectrum and optimise the ADMET properties of the series leading to the first public disclosure of the preclinical candidate.
Jinyue Ju presenting his titles slide: Discovery and Optimization of RNA Synthesis Inhibitors for Coronavirus and other Viruses of Pandemic Potential Jingyue Ju Departments of Chemical Engineering & Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics Center for Genome Technology & Biomolecular Engineering Columbia University
Tem Morrison presents a slide illustrating debilitating effects of Chikungunya infection: * Clinical disease---it's all in the name chikungunya: "that which bends up" o'nyong-nyong: "painful weakening of the joints" * Three clinical stages (CHIKV) Acute (1-3 weeks) * Sudden fever, arthralgia, arthritis, rash * Wrists, angles, phalanges (commonly up to 16 joints) * Atypical presentations occur but are rare (0.5%) Post-acute (3 weeks - 3 months) * Persistent joint pain, arthritis, tenosynovitis * >50% of patients Chronic (>3 months) * Similar to post-acute stage * 10-50% of patients; recent meta-analysis of 60 studies across 38 countries estimates 51% On the right is an illustration of which joints are affected by acute and chronic chikungunya infections, as well as photos of hands with severely inflamed, bent joints.
Margaret Kielan presents her first slide: Antiviral Countermeasures Development Center (AC/DC) Project 2: Development of Antivirals against Alphaviruses Three-part interactive team, groups of: Margaret Kielian, Albert Einste College of Medicine, NY Andres Merits, University of Tartu, Estonia Tem MOrrison, University of Colorado School of Medicine, CO
Charles Craik presenting his title slide, "Structure-based discovery of highly bioavailable, covalent, broad-specftrum coronavirus-Mpro inhibitors with potent in vivo efficacy"
Sara Cherry introduces her title slide, "Antiviral Discovery Pipeline: Emerging and Re-Emerging Viruses"
Mei Hong narrates her slide, "E: A drug-targeted cation channel of SARS-CoV-2". The slide shows the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and highlights the role of E (envelope) protein.
Peter Brown narrates his slide, "Alphavirus (CHIKV) replication complex", which shows the structure of the nsP2 protease and neighboring proteins along with substrate cleavage preferences.
Ed Griffen (ASAP lead medicinal chemist) presents a slide entitled "Better Pandemic Preparedness needs licenses and therefore pantents". The slides show a logical flow: Box 1: global equitable access holds viral threats early -- "outbreaks not pandemics" This requires Box 2: Licensing to avoid defensive positions in HICs, which aims to be maximally permissive. This requires Box 3: Patents to make licenses enforceable, which is the minimally viable defensive patent.