Repurposing of pan-erbb inhibitors to protect from coronaviral infection, inflammation, and lung injury

This Project Grant award from the Department of the Army Medical Command's Military Medical Research and Development program (CFDA 12.420) provides $2,076,014 to Stanford University for research titled "Repurposing of Pan-ERBB Inhibitors to Protect from Coronaviral Infection, Inflammation, and Lung Injury." The award period is from September 30, 2022 to September 29, 2026. Under the award, Stanford University will conduct research to determine the therapeutic potential of pan-ERBB inhibitors in combination with treatments for SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV viruses. They will seek to identify mutations in SARS-CoV-2 that cause resistance to lapatinib and generate recombinant SARS-CoV-2 in laboratory experiments.

Two federal subawards are also included. Texas Biomedical Research Institute will receive funding to conduct related in vitro and in vivo studies examining the efficacy and tolerability of pan-ERBB inhibitors in mouse and hamster models infected with SARS-CoV-2. The University of Massachusetts Lowell will utilize lung organoid and primary cell models to further understand the role of ERBBs in SARS-CoV-2 infection and evaluate pan-ERBB inhibitors for combating multiple coronaviruses.