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CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
Date: 2 - 4 June 2015
Venue: University of Texas at Austin
Title: Novel Antiviral Therapies for Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses: Bench to Bedside
Expected Participants: 190
BACKGROUND
Except for influenza, no antiviral therapies are currently approved for common or novel respiratory viral infections.
Resistance to the licensed anti-M2 and anti-NA antivirals poses a serious limitation to the options for therapeutic interventions against influenza.
There is therefore urgent need for novel therapies directed against other influenza virus targets or which modulate host factors and the immune response, to mitigate the pathogenic consequences of infection.
Similarly, effective therapeutics are needed for other seasonal respiratory viruses, like RSV and rhinoviruses, and for emergent viruses like MERS-CoV and EV-D68.
This theme is reflected in the WHO’s “Battle Against Respiratory Viruses” (BRAVE) initiative and in a RFA-A1-14-026 from NIAID “Development of novel therapeutics for select agents”.
The meeting will focus on the pre-clinical and clinical development of novel antivirals and therapeutics against influenza and other respiratory viruses, from discovery to licensure. The objective is to bring together those working in these areas to review current activity and progress.
The programme will include sessions on:
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New inhibitors of influenza NA and M2
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Inhibitors of HA function: DAS-181; fusion inhibitors; broad spectrum MAbs and smaller molecules targeting the HA stem
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Antivirals and antibody-based therapies against other seasonal and emerging respiratory viruses
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Host cell targets and determinants of host susceptibility: factors involved in virus replication or mediating the inflammatory response
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Combination therapies
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Clinical endpoints and regulatory issues
