SRI International received a $9.5 million contract from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to lead a drug discovery and development program to identify approved drugs that could also be effective against biological threats. The goal of the program is to repurpose drugs that are currently approved and marketed but have not been previously evaluated against diseases caused by biological weapons. SRI’s partners in the program include the U.S. Army Institute for Infectious Diseases, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and BioRosettex, a division of the Sarnoff Corp. Once efficacy has been confirmed, SRI will work through the Food and Drug Administration to identify an accelerated path to approval for the new indication.
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