Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation Backs Research Project at Freie Universität Berlin in Pioneering Effort to Develop Innovative Antiviral Nasal Spray
An international research team led by researchers from Freie Universität Berlin will receive 2.5 million euros in funding from the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND) in order to continue their work for an additional twelve months. The aim of the project is to develop a new antiviral nasal spray that will support the function of the nasal mucous membranes in protecting against viruses. Led by Daniel Lauster from the Institute of Pharmacy, the MucBoost project is one of only four projects from across Germany to have made it to the final round of SPRIND’s Broad-Spectrum Antivirals Challenge and, in doing so, to secure their share of the ten million euros allocated to the four finalists. The aim of the Challenge is to achieve a breakthrough in the development of new antiviral therapeutics.
When announcing the finalists, SPRIND said, “By the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic at the latest, it became clear that viruses are a threat to human health across the globe. Despite the considerable success of vaccines, we also need antiviral therapeutics so that new treatment options will be available in the future and patients can be helped quickly. To date, we still do not have effective treatments for many of the viral infections that have plagued humanity for years. The recent outbreaks of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, Ebola, and influenza make it clear that we need to prepare ourselves for future epidemics and pandemics.”
Led by Daniel Lauster, the MucBoost team is developing an “evolutionary upgrade” for mucus – the slimy substance that lines our respiratory systems and acts as a first line of defense against disease – that strengthens its natural protective function. The modular concept on which this “upgrade” is based makes it possible to adapt and react very specifically to new viruses. At the same time, this approach could potentially reduce the rate at which infectious diseases spread. MucBoost could act like a molecular mask, filtering out pathogenic viruses when these come into contact with the mucus and thus preventing infection.
The members of Freie Universität Berlin who are part of the MucBoost team include Prof. Daniel Lauster, who submitted the application for funding, and Dr. Jakob Trimpert. Additional team members include Prof. Christian Hackenberger from the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP); Prof. Christian Sieben from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI); Dr. Prisca Boisguerin from the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm) in Montpellier, France; Dr. Marius Hittinger from the pharmaceutical development company PharmBioTec; and Dr. Andreas Bilstein from URSATEC, a company specializing in dosage systems. The research project is being continued under the auspices of spin-off company MucosaTec GmbH.
In addition to the MucBoost project, the projects CRISPR ANTIVIRALS (headed by the University Medical Center Göttingen), iGUARD (Medizinische Hochschule Hannover), and VIRUSTRAP (Technical University of Munich) also made it to the finals of SPRIND’s Challenge to receive additional funding. Having made it through the first two rounds of funding, each project has received approximately 4.7 million euros each over the past three years.
The SPRIND Challenges represent a new process for promoting innovation known as “pre-commercial procurement.” The Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation is the first body in Germany to distribute funds in this manner. Compared with previous methods of distributing state funding for innovation projects, pre-commercial procurement is a much faster process. The formal specifications are also less wide-ranging, meaning that small teams and start-ups also have a chance to apply for funding successfully without any special prior knowledge of complex bureaucratic systems.