The ASAP Discovery Consortium
LightNews LightNews
banner
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
The ASAP Discovery Consortium
@asapdiscovery.bsky.social
280 followers 12 following 35 posts
ASAP uses artificial intelligence and computational chemistry to accelerate structure-based open science antiviral drug discovery and deliver oral antivirals for pandemics with the goal of global, equitable, and affordable access.
Posts Replies Media Videos
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Read more about ASAP's new pan-coronavirus antiviral designed to keep us safe from future pandemics!
dndi.org Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) @dndi.org · Sep 24
Great news! 🎉

Following an independent expert review, we have formally nominated the broad-spectrum pan-coronavirus antiviral ASAP-0017445 as a pre-clinical drug candidate.

🔗Read the press release here: dndi.org/press-releas...
September 30, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Reposted by The ASAP Discovery Consortium
jchodera.bsky.social
"If funding isn’t restored soon, Chanda says, promising antivirals will be lost, and the world will be defenseless against the next pandemic."

cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...
He was making drugs for the next pandemic. Then the feds canceled his project
Sumit Chanda's search for antivirals is in limbo after NIH halted its pandemic-preparedness program
cen.acs.org
September 29, 2025 at 10:20 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
ASAP is incredibly proud to work with superstar antiviral discovery scientists at Mount Sinai: Briana McGovern, Meg Gordon, Dr. Kris White, Dr. Suazo, and Jared Benjamin, among others!

Read about their important work here:
health.mountsinai.org/blog/stories...
Members of Dr. White’s lab, from left to right, wearing white lab coats: Briana McGovern, BS, Senior Research Associate; Meg Gordon, BA, Research Associate; Dr. White; Dr. Suazo; Jared Benjamin, MS, Research Associate.
September 10, 2025 at 7:22 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Read about the scientists on the front lines working tirelessly to make antivirals to prevent future pandemics in the Kris White lab at Mount Sinai: health.mountsinai.org/blog/stories...
Stories Behind the Science: Preparing to Fight the Next Epidemic | Mount Sinai Today
Antivirals saved many lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Mount Sinai researchers are involved in discovering new treatments as part a preparedness initiative spearheaded by the National Institute...
health.mountsinai.org
September 10, 2025 at 7:15 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Next up in today's Antiviral Drug Discovery Open Science Forum is Peter Sjö (@dndi.org) and Annette von Delft (@cmd.ox.ac.uk) of ASAP talking about DNDi-6510, the preclinical candidate from the COVID Moonshot!

asapdiscovery.org/forum
Peter Sjö giving an overview of the COVID Moonshot progression of antivirals from the COVID Moonshot Science paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo7201
June 18, 2025 at 3:36 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
First up in today's Antiviral Drug Discovery Open Science Forum is Jeroen Kruter and Ingrid de Visser-Kamerling of INFECTA: infecta.org

asapdiscovery.org/forum/
Jeroen Kruter presenting a slide about INFECTA: INFECTA: Dedicated facility To accelerate pharmaceutical development for infectious diseases through innovative research methodologies, strategic collaborations, with a commitment to improving global health outcomes. Realization of early phase clinical research infection unit: - INFECTA-NL servers as supervisory board for INFECTA - Private Limited Company is overseen by directors Ingrid de Visser and Meta Rostenberg - Non-profit purpose Purpose build: - 20 isolation beds (BSL3) - Outpatient clinic - Lab facilities including BSL3/GMP manufacturing Strong legacy from Centre for Human Drug Research and Leiden Medical Center
June 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Join us for the Wed 18 Jun Antiviral Drug Discovery Open Science Forum at 11A ET to hear from Ingrid de Visser-Kamerling and Jeroen Kruter of INFECTA on Controlled Human Infection Models, as well as Annette von Delft and Peter Sjö of ASAP on the discovery of DNDi-6510!

asapdiscovery.org/forum/
Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Open Science Forum
A public venue to enable NIH-funded AViDD Centers to openly exchange and disseminate information in a pre-competitive fashion.
asapdiscovery.org
June 17, 2025 at 6:22 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Next up in today's Antiviral Drug Discovery Open Science Forum is Juan C. de la Torre of CAMPP @scripps.edu talking about antiviral discovery for mammarenaviruses.

asapdiscovery.org/forum
Slide presented by Juan C. de la Torre: Impact of mammarenaviruses on human health: * Lassa virus (LASV): The underrated human pathogen of West Africa * South American hemorrhagic fever mammarenaviruses * The globally distributed prototypic mammarenaviruses LCMV as a neglected human pathogen * Recently discovered mammarenaviruses of unknown pathogenic potential for humans
May 21, 2025 at 3:34 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
First up in today's Antiviral Drug Discovery Open Science Forum is Warren Thompson ASAP @diamondlightsource.bsky.social showing automated fragment progression capabilities that Diamond Light Source users will soon be able to access!

asapdiscovery.org/forum/
www.diamond.ac.uk/Instruments/...
Warren Thompson presenting a slide showing the Diamond Light Source XChem facility capabilities for accelerated Design-Make-Test-Analyze cycles, including collaborative data dissemination, cloud-based digitised chemistry, high throughput automated beamline, and the creation of AI-data sources for predicting ligand binding for drug discovery.
May 21, 2025 at 3:10 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Join today's Antiviral Drug Discovery Open Science Forum at 11A ET to hear Warren Thompson (‪ASAP @diamondlightsource.bsky.social‬) discuss robotic fragment progression and Juan Carlos de la Torre (‪CAMPP
@scripps.edu‬) present strategies to combat human mammarenaviruses:
asapdiscovery.org/forum/
Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Open Science Forum
A public venue to enable NIH-funded AViDD Centers to openly exchange and disseminate information in a pre-competitive fashion.
asapdiscovery.org
May 21, 2025 at 2:14 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
ASAP is incredibly proud to help pioneer new ways of making medicines globally affordable and accessible for all.
dndi.org Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) @dndi.org · Apr 10
Did you know that we can manage patents in a way that serves the public good?
Our Intellectual Property & Access Leader shares why, together with our partners from the @asapdiscovery.bsky.social, we are filing a #patent for a promising new #molecule that we developed together.

shorturl.at/IgL80
How patents can serve the common good
YouTube video by Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi)
youtube.com
April 27, 2025 at 5:36 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
ASAP, OpenADMET (@openadmet.bsky.social), and Polaris Hub (@polarishub.io) are hosting a virtual meeting on Wed 30 Apr to learn from top performers in our recently concluded blind modeling challenge.

To join or learn more about these efforts, check out:
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
ASAP:OpenADMET:Polaris Blind Challenge Participant Showcase | Hugo MacDermott-Opeskin
ASAPDiscovery, Polaris - Benchmarks for methods that matter and OpenADMET  are hosting a session for some of the top performers from our recently concluded blind challenge to showcase their methods! ...
www.linkedin.com
April 27, 2025 at 5:35 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
This Wed 16 Apr at 11.00A ET, the Antiviral Drug Discovery Open Science Forum features talks on Dengue antiviral discovery and development from Xuping Xie (@utmbhealth.bsky.social) and Darlene Chen (@novartis.bsky.social) of the UNAPP AViDD!

asapdiscovery.org/forum
Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Open Science Forum
A public venue to enable NIH-funded AViDD Centers to openly exchange and disseminate information in a pre-competitive fashion.
asapdiscovery.org
April 15, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by The ASAP Discovery Consortium
griffen-ed.bsky.social
Massive credit to all members of @asapdiscovery.bsky.social :- drug discovery is a massive team sport. Especially the chemists at Enamine working through the war.
cenmag.bsky.social C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News) @cenmag.bsky.social · Mar 27
At #ACSSpring2025, Ed Griffen of MedChemica disclosed the structure of a pancoronavirus antiviral that targets the main protease of the two different coronaviruses that cause Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and COVID-19. cen.acs.org/acs-news/acs... 🧪
Antiviral unveiled that goes after multiple coronaviruses
Open-science consortium discloses its lead candidate to fight SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV
cen.acs.org
March 28, 2025 at 10:01 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
ASAP lead med chemist Ed Griffen (@griffen-ed.bsky.social) and @dndi.org Access Leader Pascale Boulet explain how ASAP is using patents to serve the common good by enabling globally equitable and affordable access to medicines in this feature in @cenmag.bsky.social:
cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...
Opinion: How patents can serve the common good
We want wide, fast, and affordable access for our new antiviral. It might sound counterintuitive, but a patent will help us do that
cen.acs.org
April 4, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by The ASAP Discovery Consortium
dndi.org
📢Important announcement! Today, the @asapdiscovery.bsky.social consortium disclosed the structure of our preclinical candidate, ASAP-0017445, a promising broad-spectrum antiviral with potent activity against SARS-CoV2 and other viruses belonging to the same family. (1/10)
March 25, 2025 at 7:33 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Exciting news! The structure of the new MERS-CoV/SARS-CoV-2 oral antiviral developed by the ASAP Discovery consortium has been disclosed today. Read this thread for all the details:
dndi.org Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) @dndi.org · Mar 25
📢Important announcement! Today, the @asapdiscovery.bsky.social consortium disclosed the structure of our preclinical candidate, ASAP-0017445, a promising broad-spectrum antiviral with potent activity against SARS-CoV2 and other viruses belonging to the same family. (1/10)
March 25, 2025 at 7:35 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
If you're attending the American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting either physically or virtually, tune in to today's talk disclosing ASAP's new oral antiviral candidate aiming to help protect against future pandemics.
asapdiscovery.bsky.social The ASAP Discovery Consortium @asapdiscovery.bsky.social · Mar 21
Lead medicinal chemist Ed Griffen (@griffen-ed.bsky.social) will be disclosing the new ASAP MERS-CoV/SARS-CoV-2 oral antiviral at @acs.org on Tue 25 Mar! Tune in to this virtual session to hear about its discovery and development!

acs.digitellinc.com/live/34/sess...
ACS talk 4181593 - Discovery of non-peptidomimetic oral combined MERS and SARS-CoV-2 anti-virals Presented by Ed Griffen Part of the session "Developing Countermeasures for Viruses of Pandemic Potential" Room: Digital Session (Digital Meeting) Overview: The COVID-19 pandemic was a stark reminder that a barren global antiviral pipeline has grave humanitarian consequences. Pandemics could be prevented, in principle, by accessible, easily deployable broad-spectrum oral antivirals. Here we report the discovery of a family non-peptidomimetic spirolactams that target critical pathogenic coronaviridae including SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. As part of the ASAP AViDD centre(www.asapdiscovery.org) we expanded the work of the COVID Moonshot's drug discovery campaign targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease to deliver orally active compounds with promising in vivo profiles. Using a combination of active learning based medicinal chemistry, alchemical free energy calculations and structure-based design we were able to extend the coronavirus spectrum and optimise the ADMET properties of the series leading to the first public disclosure of the preclinical candidate.
March 25, 2025 at 1:20 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Three days to go until the unveiling of our MERS-CoV/SARS-CoV-2 oral antiviral candidate for preclinical development!
asapdiscovery.bsky.social The ASAP Discovery Consortium @asapdiscovery.bsky.social · Mar 21
Lead medicinal chemist Ed Griffen (@griffen-ed.bsky.social) will be disclosing the new ASAP MERS-CoV/SARS-CoV-2 oral antiviral at @acs.org on Tue 25 Mar! Tune in to this virtual session to hear about its discovery and development!

acs.digitellinc.com/live/34/sess...
ACS talk 4181593 - Discovery of non-peptidomimetic oral combined MERS and SARS-CoV-2 anti-virals Presented by Ed Griffen Part of the session "Developing Countermeasures for Viruses of Pandemic Potential" Room: Digital Session (Digital Meeting) Overview: The COVID-19 pandemic was a stark reminder that a barren global antiviral pipeline has grave humanitarian consequences. Pandemics could be prevented, in principle, by accessible, easily deployable broad-spectrum oral antivirals. Here we report the discovery of a family non-peptidomimetic spirolactams that target critical pathogenic coronaviridae including SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. As part of the ASAP AViDD centre(www.asapdiscovery.org) we expanded the work of the COVID Moonshot's drug discovery campaign targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease to deliver orally active compounds with promising in vivo profiles. Using a combination of active learning based medicinal chemistry, alchemical free energy calculations and structure-based design we were able to extend the coronavirus spectrum and optimise the ADMET properties of the series leading to the first public disclosure of the preclinical candidate.
March 22, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by The ASAP Discovery Consortium
conscience-network.bsky.social
✨Another symposium session reveal✨ Featuring Max Morgan and @griffen-ed.bsky.social, this session features speakers inventing and actively implementing new strategies that centre open science and collaboration to drive drug discovery! Register here: conscience.ca/symposium2025
February 17, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by The ASAP Discovery Consortium
medchemica.com
5 weeks to go! 🚀
Dr @griffen-ed.bsky.social is presenting at the ACS Spring Meeting & Expo. Talk Title; “Discovery of non-peptidomimetic oral combined MERS and SARS-CoV-2 anti-virals." @asapdiscovery.bsky.social @acs.org #ACSSpring2025

Click to register 🔗 www.acs.org/meetings/acs...
February 27, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by The ASAP Discovery Consortium
medchemica.com
5 weeks to go🚀

@griffen-ed.bsky.social is presenting at the @conscience-network.bsky.social Symposium. Talk Title; "Balancing Open Science and Intellectual Property to Discover and Develop Medicines” @asapdiscovery.bsky.social

Register now: conscience.ca/symposium202...
March 5, 2025 at 5:56 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Lead medicinal chemist Ed Griffen (@griffen-ed.bsky.social) will be disclosing the new ASAP MERS-CoV/SARS-CoV-2 oral antiviral at @acs.org on Tue 25 Mar! Tune in to this virtual session to hear about its discovery and development!

acs.digitellinc.com/live/34/sess...
ACS talk 4181593 - Discovery of non-peptidomimetic oral combined MERS and SARS-CoV-2 anti-virals Presented by Ed Griffen Part of the session "Developing Countermeasures for Viruses of Pandemic Potential" Room: Digital Session (Digital Meeting) Overview: The COVID-19 pandemic was a stark reminder that a barren global antiviral pipeline has grave humanitarian consequences. Pandemics could be prevented, in principle, by accessible, easily deployable broad-spectrum oral antivirals. Here we report the discovery of a family non-peptidomimetic spirolactams that target critical pathogenic coronaviridae including SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. As part of the ASAP AViDD centre(www.asapdiscovery.org) we expanded the work of the COVID Moonshot's drug discovery campaign targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease to deliver orally active compounds with promising in vivo profiles. Using a combination of active learning based medicinal chemistry, alchemical free energy calculations and structure-based design we were able to extend the coronavirus spectrum and optimise the ADMET properties of the series leading to the first public disclosure of the preclinical candidate.
March 21, 2025 at 4:55 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Next up for our Antiviral Drug Discovery Open Science Forum Jingyue Ju (Columbia University) of the Metropolitan AntiViral Drug Accelerator (MAVDA), discussing inhibitors of RNA synthesis for coronaviruses and other viruses of pandemic potential.

Check out his talk here:
openantivirals.org
Jinyue Ju presenting his titles slide: Discovery and Optimization of RNA Synthesis Inhibitors for Coronavirus and other Viruses of Pandemic Potential Jingyue Ju Departments of Chemical Engineering & Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics Center for Genome Technology & Biomolecular Engineering Columbia University
February 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
asapdiscovery.bsky.social
Tem Morrison (University of Colorado School of Medicine) is up next in this month's Antiviral Drug Discovery Open Science Forum, discussing the debilitating effects of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and the high need for antivirals.

Tune in now, or watch his presentation later:
openantivirals.org
Tem Morrison presents a slide illustrating debilitating effects of Chikungunya infection: * Clinical disease---it's all in the name chikungunya: "that which bends up" o'nyong-nyong: "painful weakening of the joints" * Three clinical stages (CHIKV) Acute (1-3 weeks) * Sudden fever, arthralgia, arthritis, rash * Wrists, angles, phalanges (commonly up to 16 joints) * Atypical presentations occur but are rare (0.5%) Post-acute (3 weeks - 3 months) * Persistent joint pain, arthritis, tenosynovitis * >50% of patients Chronic (>3 months) * Similar to post-acute stage * 10-50% of patients; recent meta-analysis of 60 studies across 38 countries estimates 51% On the right is an illustration of which joints are affected by acute and chronic chikungunya infections, as well as photos of hands with severely inflamed, bent joints.
February 19, 2025 at 4:22 PM