Viruses have been a threat to human health worldwide long before the COVID-19 pandemic. This is also because viral diseases are difficult to treat. Despite advances in vaccine research, there is still no effective protection for pathogens such as influenza and Ebola. And the search for treatments is also proving challenging.
In order to achieve a breakthrough in the development of new antiviral drugs, the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovations therefore launched the Sprind Challenge “Broad-Spectrum Antivirals” In this competition, teams compete in parallel with different solution strategies to find the most promising active ingredients based on new technology platforms over three years.
Capsitec relies on DNA origami
A jury from academia and industry has now selected four candidates from the remaining six teams who will participate as finalists in the final stage of this innovation competition. One of them is the team from Capsitec in Planegg.
Capsitec uses DNA origami technology with its Virustrap solution to build nanoscale traps for viruses. the team around Prof. Dr. Hendrik Dietz from the Technical University of Munich developed half-shells made of single-stranded DNA that enclose and neutralize viruses. The size and shape of the shells can be flexibly adapted to different viruses.
By advancing to the final phase of the competition, Capsitec will receive an additional €2.5 million in funding. This brings the total funding from Sprind to approximately €4.7 million over the three years of the competition. The Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovations has established a new innovation funding procedure in Germany: pre-commercial procurement. Compared to previous government innovation funding procedures, this procedure is considered faster and its formal requirements less extensive. This should enable even smaller teams and startups to participate successfully without requiring specialized funding application know-how.
Via his Linkedin channel Capsitec knowledge:
"We are very proud to be among the selected companies. The Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovations has been an invaluable partner over the past few years, and we couldn't be more grateful. As some can attest, changing the world is no easy task. It's truly amazing to have someone by your side who believes in you and continually encourages you to go even further."
Sprind helps to “bridge the valley of death”
"The Sprind Challenges have quickly established themselves as an effective funding tool for bridging the 'valley of death' between basic research and market readiness. By funding different approaches over several years and evaluating their development progress, we can filter out the best solutions,"
explained Jano Costard, Challenge Officer of Spring.
"In order for these new drug candidates to be further developed and produced – so that they are quickly available when needed – an Advance Market Commitment (AMC) from the public sector is now needed to eliminate market failures that paralyze private investment in pandemic medicines."
An AMC guarantees the acceptance of products with clearly defined properties that have yet to be developed. The market commitment is not made to specific companies, but rather to all market participants that meet the product's predefined performance criteria. This overcomes the key hurdle for investment: demand uncertainty. This elimination of demand uncertainty, in turn, enables investors such as venture capitalists or pharmaceutical companies to invest in the development of new technologies.
