The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded a grant of EUR 2,395,902 to the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and India’s Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) to advance the development of a novel broad-spectrum antiviral candidate targeting influenza and other viruses of pandemic potential and strengthen pre-clinical research capacity for pandemic preparedness.
This grant will enable the continuation of a lead-optimization partnership initiated by DNDi and THSTI in March 2024, building on previous work that demonstrated the promise of this antiviral approach.
Pandemic-prone respiratory viruses, such as influenza, pose a major risk to human health. Effective antivirals are essential in mitigating their impact and protecting public health. However, only a limited number of such antivirals are currently available, particularly for populations in low-resource settings, and there are very few antiviral drug candidates in the development pipeline.
Salicylamides represent a promising but underexplored class of host-targeting antivirals with broad-spectrum activity across multiple viral families. They prevent viruses from entering human cells and using cell machinery to replicate. Based on their host-dependent mode of action, salicylamides offer increased resilience to drug-induced viral resistance, which is a growing concern for current influenza therapies and a key limitation for antiviral strategies targeting viral proteins.
Given their broad-spectrum activity, salicylamides could target not only influenza A and B infections, but also other viral pathogens with significant epidemic or pandemic potential, such as SARS-CoV-2, chikungunya, and dengue.
Building on their earlier collaboration, DNDi and THSTI are advancing newly optimized salicylamides with markedly improved potency, bioavailability, and metabolic stability compared with earlier candidates.
This Novo Nordisk Foundation-supported project will take the most promising candidate through key pre-clinical studies, including pharmacokinetic assessments, safety profiling, and confirmation of broad-spectrum antiviral activity. A differentiated back-up compound will also be developed to ensure programme continuity and reduce risk.
Beyond advancing a potential first-in-class antiviral, the partnership strengthens India-Europe collaboration and contributes to building sustainable Indian drug discovery and pre-clinical research capacity for pandemic preparedness.
The project will run from March 2026 to February 2028. Scientific results will be shared widely through open-access publications in line with DNDi’s commitment to open science.
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, lymphatic filariasis, female genital schistosomiasis, 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 fourteen new treatments for six deadly diseases, saving millions of lives. dndi.org
About the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute
The Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) is a premier institute of the Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council (BRIC), under the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. THSTI is dedicated to translational research, integrating medicine, science, and engineering to develop biomedical innovations for public health, with a focus on vaccines, infectious diseases, and other critical health areas. thsti.res.in
Media contact
In Geneva
Frédéric Ojardias
+41 79 431 62 16
fojardias@dndi.org
Photo credit: Mayank Agrawal-DNDi
