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MARYLAND (WDVM) — The non-profit organization ConnectedDMV has launched the Global Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center.
The Global Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center will involve scientists and collaborators with the goal of accelerating pandemic preparedness by coordinating and delivering innovative solutions to contain disease outbreaks.
Right now, the center is focused on AHEAD 100. AHEAD stands for Advanced Human Epidemic Antibody Defenses. It is an innovative program to develop and stockpile human monoclonal antibodies for the top 100 pandemic potential pathogens.
“That’s the idea of our program AHEAD 100, to make these preventions and cures ahead of time so we actually have small epidemics and we snuff them out,” said Director of the Vanderbilt University Vaccine Center, Dr. James Crowe Jr. “So the vision would be a world free of pandemics. We might have outbreaks and small epidemics but they don’t become pandemics.”
Monoclonal antibody has proven to be effective in preventing and treating infections. According to Dr. Crowe, the top 10 drugs in the drug market of immunotherapy and autoimmunity and cancer are in fact antibodies.
“It’s not an experimental technology, it something that’s here and now, it’s just something that has not been used for infectious diseases, we want to take these biotech inventions out of cancer and autoimmunity world and apply them to preventing pandemics.”