The Open Philanthropy Project recommended a grant of $880,000 to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to support experiments testing several antiviral drugs. The work will be led by Dr. Raul Andino, Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UCSF. This grant will allow Dr. Andino to carry out tests of the effectiveness of two commercial-quality drugs against five different viruses. Open Philanthropy considers this research important to better understanding the broad spectrum antiviral potential of these compounds, which Open Philanthropy believes could potentially be used to minimize the effects of a bioterrorism attack or pandemic virus outbreak.
This grant falls within Open Philanthropy's interest in funding scientific research, and is additionally related to its biosecurity and pandemic preparedness focus area.
Update: In June 2018, Open Philanthropy added $180,000 to the original award amount, and in October 2018 it added $380,000. The amounts above have been updated to reflect this.