Integral Molecular, a company that develops vaccines and therapeutics, announced a five-year $8 million contract from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

The funding will be used to support the company's continuing research into emerging viruses recognized as potential pandemic threats.

This marks the fourth similar contract awarded to the company in 15 years. Prior contracts allowed responses to virus outbreaks such as SARS-CoV-2, Zika, Ebola, dengue and chikungunya.

Integral Molecular will utilize its mapping platform to pinpoint antibody binding sites (epitopes) on viruses, characterizing immune responses to viral threats. 

According to the company, this type of information can help scientists design effective vaccines. 

Additionally, Integral Molecular's Reporter Virus Particles (RVPs) is expected to play a vital role in the research. 

In a statement, the company said the non-replicative virus particles allow safe and high-throughput neutralization studies of highly pathogenic viruses with the use of standard laboratory facilities, and RVPs empower researchers to quickly develop vaccines and therapeutics.

The NIAID contract will allow Integral Molecular to expand its research on potential pandemic threats, including Rift Valley Fever, Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever and Enterovirus D68 viruses.

"We are grateful to NIAID for their continued support and trust in our capabilities," Benjamin Doranz, CEO of Integral Molecular, said in a statement. 

"Viral threats can emerge quickly and with little warning. This contract enables us to contribute to pandemic preparedness by focusing on understudied viruses identified as potential threats, using our technologies to make virology research more accessible to laboratories around the world."

THE LARGER TREND

In June, Integral Molecular, received ISO 9001 certification for the quality systems and processes used in their virology offerings. 

In April, Integral Molecular launched its Virus Neutralization Assay Services, which permitted researchers to rapidly obtain high-quality data to advance their vaccines and therapeutic antibodies. Neutralization Assay Services allow diverse applications including neutralization profiling for antibodies targeting viral proteins. 

That same month, researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), developed an artificial intelligence tool that predicts whether a patient will respond to cancer-treatment drugs using individual tumor cells, according to a study published in Nature Cancer. 

Conventional approaches to drug-patient matching center on bulk sequencing of tumor DNA and RNA. The new AI approach, PERCEPTION, takes advantage of single-cell RNA sequencing, which provides better-resolution data to fine-tune predicted drug responses.  

In 2022, Ro, a direct-to-patient care company, secured an agreement with the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to develop the Registry for Equal Access to Clinical Trials in Alzheimer's Disease (REACT-AD). 

Ro will employ its telehealth platform to screen and recruit patients who are at a heightened risk for developing Alzheimer's disease or other related dementia to join REACT-AD for potential participation in NIA-conducted and funded clinical trials. The NIA, part of the NIH, was charged with analyzing the data received and supervising the publication of research findings that emanate from REACT-AD.