Defying gravity: how industry-led INTREPID will keep pandemic fight alive

As soon as biopharmas kicked into gear for COVID-19, the looming question became how long industry would sustain its attention beyond this pandemic to prepare for the next one. INTREPID aims to answer in two ways: providing an umbrella for the development of antivirals against pandemic threats, and creating an avenue for companies and investors to channel their good intentions into solid programs.

The alliance, dubbed International Readiness for Preventing Infectious Viral Disease (INTREPID), is a by-product of the COVID R&D industry consortium, and is as much a test of how long industry’s newfound camaraderie can last as of how much it has learned from the failure to take the last outbreaks seriously enough. ...