CARE Corona Accelerated R&D in Europe (CARE 101005077)

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has emerged as the largest global health threat to humanity in this century. According to the World Health Organisation Situation Report of March 28th 2020, 571,659 patients were  diagnosed with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 26,493 deaths were reported globally. The wide spectrum of clinical symptoms, disease severity in high risk individuals, transmission efficiency and high mortality, raises an immediate need for vaccines or therapeutics. Given that the viral variant is new in the human population and emerged less than 4 months ago, there is no vaccine or approved therapies. The Corona Accelerated R&D in Europe (CARE) consortium is a coalition of 37 globally renowned academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies and non-profit research organizations who have committed to rapidly and efficiently address this emergent health threat, and the main objectives are: the development of therapeutics (i) to provide an emergency response towards the current COVID-19 pandemic by drug repositioning and (ii) to address the current and/or future coronavirus outbreaks by broad-spectrum small-molecule drug discovery and/or virus-neutralizing antibody discovery. To achieve this, a collection of repurposed drugs, focused libraries and small molecule libraries will be screened against SARS-CoV-2, other emerging SARS-CoV-2 clades and related coronavirus genera in phenotypic or target-based assays. A focused medicinal chemistry campaign will identify small-molecule hits, and Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion (ADME), pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD), potency and safety of these therapeutic candidates will be assessed in vitro and in animal models. Virus-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies will be generated and further characterized. Immune markers will be identified contributing to the host immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infections, and the correlation with clinical and virological outcomes will be determined. Finally, lead candidates will be advanced into Phase1 and Phase 2 clinical trials in humans. With this reactive response, the CARE consortium is dedicated to win the fight against coronavirus.