Posted October 3, 2024

Bryan Berube, Ph.D., HDT Bio Corp.

Infections can leave individuals of any profession bedridden with cough, fever, and body aches. Military personnel serving on missions around the globe may have limited access to healthcare resources, such as medications. The challenges related to accessibility of medical treatment can increase the severity of a treatable illness or lengthen the recovery time.

With a fiscal year 2021 Rapid Development and Translational Research Award from the Combat Readiness Medical Research Program, Bryan Berube, Ph.D., and his team at HDT Bio Corp are working on a solution to this challenge. To combat viral illnesses, the human body must launch an immune response and develop antibodies against the virus. Scientists may encounter obstacles when creating a product that can safely activate a similar immune response. For example, vaccines can be administered to activate the body’s immune response but often require special storage and administration. Berube successfully created a novel viral-targeting molecule, RAR, and a safe delivery formulation, LION. The combination of RAR and LION, called HDT-201, elicits a safe and effective delivery of RAR to activate the viral immune response. With this award, Berube and his team aim to develop HDT-201 for intranasal delivery to prevent and treat respiratory viral infection.

A small, lightweight, non-refrigerated, self-administered medication that prevents and treats common respiratory illnesses may reduce non-battle disease and downtime for Warfighters in remote regions. Additionally, this nasal spray vaccine may benefit civilians. Stopping the virus before infection or reducing viral replication once symptoms appear could mean less implications from outbreaks.

Since inception, the CRRP has made 27 research awards that aim to produce deployable solutions that can promptly address life-threatening injuries, medical threats, and treatments for Service Members.

Reference:
Montgomery A.S., Lustik M.B., Reichert-Scrivner S.A., “Respiratory viral pathogens among U.S. military personnel at a medical treatment facility in Hawaii from 2014 to 2019,” Military Medicine, 187 no. 1-2, (2022): 182- 188, https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usab191.

Link:
Public and Technical Abstracts: Development of a Temperature-Stable Broad-Spectrum Antiviral for Respiratory Viral Pathogens

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