After an independent expert review, the broad-spectrum pan-coronavirus antiviral ASAP-0017445 has been formally nominated as a pre-clinical drug candidate by the non-profit medical research organization Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).
ASAP-0017445 is the first coronavirus antiviral developed through crowdsourcing and open science, and the first with its origins in artificial intelligence (AI).
It is a main protease inhibitor that shows promising activity against SARS-Cov2 and other viruses of the same family, including other viruses of pandemic potential such as MERS-CoV – hence its qualification as ‘broad-spectrum’. The compound was designed and developed by the open-science research initiative COVID Moonshot and its sister organisation, the AI-driven Structure-enabled Antiviral Platform (ASAP) consortium.
‘Our goal is to deliver an effective and affordable antiviral medicine that would be accessible to everyone if and when the next coronavirus pandemic strikes,’ said Annette von Delft, Head of Anti-Infectives at the Centre of Medicines Discovery, Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford, and partner of the Moonshot initiative.
‘Antivirals have shown to be extremely effective in reducing risk of hospitalization and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there were serious issues around access to the drugs in low- and middle-income countries. Humanity must not repeat the same mistakes. From the outset, our antiviral has been designed to directly become a generic, so it can save as many lives as possible,’ she added.
The next step is to synthesize the pre-clinical candidate in quantities sufficient for testing in preparation for Phase I clinical trials.
‘The cost of developing an antiviral today is extremely low compared to what we might lose if we are not prepared when the next pandemic hits,’ said Peter Sjö, Head of the Drug Discovery Programme at DNDi.
‘Fundamentally there is a lack of potent, broad-spectrum coronavirus antivirals ready to be deployed in a future pandemic. Here we have a promising agent; it is almost ready to be tested in humans, is royalty-free, and could become a generic treatment. We are calling on potential donors to join and support the clinical development of medicines to protect people from new pandemic threats.’
The backbone of ASAP-0017445 molecule was initially designed with the input from hundreds of researchers around the world who, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, spontaneously joined efforts to develop a new, affordable and globally accessible antiviral. They submitted more than 18,000 designs for a molecule that could inhibit the main protease of SARS-CoV2 – an open science, massively crowdsourced drug discovery collaboration known as the COVID Moonshot. The molecule was further optimized by partners from the ASAP consortium.
The structure of ASAP-0017445 was publicly disclosed in March 2025. All the data generated during its development, including the structure data of the more than 2,000 compounds submitted during the crowdsourcing phase, are publicly available. Other researchers can build on this unprecedented dataset for drug discovery for their own research.
ASAP-0017445 is one of the most advanced molecules of the Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Centers for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern, a programme funded between 2022 and 2025 by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Partners of the ASAP consortium include Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the US, Mount Sinai in the US, Enamine in Ukraine, MedChemica in the UK, Diamond Light Source in the UK, the Weizmann Institute in Israel, Post Era in the US, and DNDi.
The NIH funded the lead optimization work that enabled the identification of this candidate compound. Wellcome supported early pre-clinical development.
About DNDi
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a not-for-profit medical research organization that discovers, develops, and delivers safe, effective, and affordable treatments for neglected populations. DNDi is developing medicines for sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, river blindness, mycetoma, dengue, paediatric HIV, cryptococcal meningitis, and hepatitis C. Its research priorities include children’s health; gender equity and gender-responsive R&D; and diseases impacted by climate change. Since its creation in 2003, DNDi has collaborated with public and private partners worldwide to deliver 13 new treatments for six deadly diseases, saving millions of lives. dndi.org
About the Nuffield Department of Medicine
The Centre of Medicines Discovery is a prestigious unit within the Nuffield Department of Medicine (NDM) at the University of Oxford. The NDM is the largest department of medicine in Europe. It is distinguished by its excellence in several clinical disciplines, including tropical and general medicine, infectious disease, cancer, immunology, gastroenterology, respiratory and renal medicine, and vaccinology. Over the last fifty years, the NDM has pioneered the use of genetics, structural and cellular biology to understand susceptibility to human disease, while maintaining a focus on clinical medicine. NDM has over 1,200 staff in the UK and 2,000 overseas, with over 20 major research institutes, centres and units in Oxford as well as Kenya, Thailand, Vietnam and several other countries. For more information, visit ndm.ox.ac.uk
Media contact
DNDi
Frederic Ojardias (in Geneva)
+41 79 431 6216
fojardias@dndi.org
Photo credit: Xavier Vahed-DNDi
