Funding announcement expands Trent University's role as centre for anti-viral development

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Peterborough, ON, MP Dean Del Mastro announces that the federal government will provide $2 million to support the next development phase of the International Consortium on Anti-Virals (ICAV), headquartered at Trent University.

ICAV is a non-profit Canadian consortium established to discover and develop new therapeutic interventions for viral infections. Comprising of more than 200 scientists from 18 countries, ICAV links its research with private sector partners to facilitate knowledge transfer and effective use of limited resources to accelerate the development and delivery of drugs that target viral diseases worldwide.

The funding announced will aid in the establishment of the international headquarters for ICAV in Peterborough at Trent University.

"ICAV is an extraordinary example of international collaboration that brings together some of the best minds, expertise and social commitment possible to work toward solutions needed worldwide," said Trent University president Bonnie Patterson. "We are very excited that Trent is the home administrative base to ICAV and that a number of our faculty will have a role to play in this significant international team of talented people."

President Patterson also noted that Trent faculty and students, who add so much to the University's reputation for research excellence, will be introduced to acclaimed scientists who are developing the anti-virals required to respond to the threat of an international pandemic.

"This funding significantly enhances our efforts to get the discoveries out of the universities and into the marketplace," explained Dr. Jeremy Carver, chief executive and chief science officer of ICAV. "ICAV operates using a unique model designed to generate revenues through pharmaceutical royalties in order to deliver anti-viral therapeutic interventions and expertise to combat global diseases such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, dengue fever, West Nile virus and rotavirus infection in children and many others."

The announcement was specifically targeted to bolster Canada's pandemic preparedness. "This investment in international research will assist in the development of more effective, low-cost anti-virals that will be an important part of our early response to an influenza pandemic," stated Mr. Del Mastro. The funding grant will be provided
directly to ICAV.

Effective and readily available anti-viral therapies are an essential element of pandemic preparedness plans and global health in general. A first-line of defence against emerging pandemics, anti-virals provide protection while a vaccine is developed. Anti-viral drugs can also provide effective treatment for diseases where a vaccine has yet to be identified. Traditional, commercial approaches to drug-development, however, have failed to yield a viable pipeline of anti-viral drugs, particularly for emerging viral diseases and viruses of the developing world.