Open Philanthropy made a seed investment of $2,500,000 to support further development of potentially programmable antivirals.
Open Philanthropy invested $2,500,000 in the newly formed company 4J Therapeutics, founded by Professor Jeffrey S. Glenn from Stanford University. 4J Therapeutics has developed a potential platform technology based on locked nucleic acid (LNA) antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) that can target conserved RNA structures in viral genomes and holds potential for antiviral prophylaxis and post-exposure therapy as demonstrated in this publication: Programmable antivirals targeting critical conserved viral RNA secondary structures from influenza A virus and SARS-CoV-2 | Nature Medicine.