Preparing for the viruses we’ve yet to meet

By Jamie Hansen

Jeffrey Glenn, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology, is on a mission to de-fang COVID-19 and prepare the world for future viral threats.

To see this through, Glenn has assembled a team of more than 100 Stanford faculty, external consultants, postdoctoral researchers, students and other staff to develop drugs to combat viruses that pose a high pandemic risk. Their first priority: SARS-CoV-2.

The effort, dubbed SyneRx, is made possible by a $69 million grant Glenn received from the National Institutes of Health. Those funds are a game changer, according to Glenn. They will support significant progress developing drugs that can target current and future pandemic threats.

We spoke with Glenn about his goals for drug development, the pivotal role antivirals play in pandemic preparedness, and the need for global collaboration.