Target to trial rapid immunotherapy development against West Nile virus

Target to trial rapid immunotherapy development against West Nile virus Target to trial rapid immunotherapy development against West Nile virus This year saw a record number of cases of West Nile virus in Arizona, and we are likely to see more outbreaks across the US in coming years. West Nile, belongs to a family of viruses along with Zika and Dengue that can actually leverage the immune response to enhance infection, rendering vaccines ineffective and even dangerous. Biologic therapies are the only viable means to combat West Nile infection, however these drugs remain expensive to develop, to the point of not being commercially viable. We have built an accelerated platform for biologic drug development, operating at 100X the scale for a fraction of the cost of current methods. Our system can establish promising candidates in a matter of weeks, test in culture without a special biosafety facility, and even determine human safety and efficacy before recruiting a single patient. The substantial reduction in time, cost, and risk afforded by our approach not only makes a treatment for West Nile feasible, it will set a new standard of development and affordability for biologic therapies globally.