Funding will be used to evalute approved medications for their effectiveness against biological threats.

SRI International was awarded a $9.5 million DoD contract to reposition marketed drugs as therapeutics against biowarfare agents. The money receive through the the Defense Threat Reduction Agency will be used to identify potential medications and develop them to establish efficacy for these new indications.


SRI reports that it will work though the FDA to find an accelerated path to approval. The organization will also publish the information so new treatment options could be considered in case of a national emergency.


SRI will collaborate with other research institutes to develop a library of compounds, discover unknown activities against biothreat agents, and confirm the effectiveness of best candidates. The Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and BioRosettex are all contributing research and technology.

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