Op-Ed in BioCentury: The urgent need for variant-proof therapeutics

It may also now be possible to develop plug-and-play platform technologies that are resistance-proof and rapidly adaptable to any viral threat. And the regulatory process for applying these platforms to new viral indications may soon be streamlined — due to the new advanced platform technology designation provided by the PREVENT Pandemics Act, passed by Congress in the recent 2023 omnibus appropriations bill.

One example of a pan-viral platform technology is a new class of RNA, known as encrypted RNA. This next-generation RNA, which we aim to advance at Autonomous Therapeutics Inc., is designed to encode an artificial immune system that can detect and eliminate every variant of a viral family. We have developed encrypted RNA candidates with potential variant-proof efficacy against a wide range of pathogens, from coronaviruses to influenza and RSV. These can be made inhalable and shielded from human immune systems to enable safe and long-term prophylaxis. As a result, encrypted RNA offers the possibility of population-scale protection against mutating viral threats, including variants never seen before.