First JPEO-CBRND Industry Day Focused on Host Directed Therapeutics Generates Ideas, Stimu

The world is full of unpredictable biological threats, each with the potential to pose extraordinary biodefense challenges in unique ways. As the threat landscape continues to change, staying ahead of these threats is becoming more and more challenging, increasing the importance of threat-agnostic solution development. In October, the Joint Project Manager for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Medical’s (JPM CBRN Medical) Biological Defense Pharmaceuticals (BDP) program team, a component of the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND), hosted its first ever Host Directed Therapeutics Industry Day. This collaboration brought together leading U.S. government (USG), academia, and industry experts to brainstorm potential partnership opportunities and spur the development of critical host directed therapeutic products to ultimately combat these unknown and unpredictable threats.

Hosted at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Alexandria, Virginia, the event drew 115 attendees, including representatives from industry and academia, as well as interagency representation from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office (DTRA-JSTO), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the Army xTech Prize Competition program and the Army Small Business Innovation Research program.

Day one opened with remarks from Mr. Camilo Morales, Director of Medical Research, Development, and Acquisition for the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense.

“Staying ahead of the threat has become increasingly challenging, and threat agnostic approaches play a crucial role as they allow us to migrate the impacts of a broader range of threats that share similar characteristics,” opened Morales. “These engagements provide valuable opportunities to bring together DOD counterparts, interagency organizations, and industry partners to solve the complex challenges our warfighters are facing today and will face tomorrow.”

Host directed therapeutics are treatments targeting a patient’s immune response to infection or illness. Rather than targeting a specific virus or infection, these broad-spectrum solutions have the potential to prevent, reduce, or lessen immediate and long-term harm to the body by promoting a balance of healthy cells, tissue, immune system, and organ function. Broad-spectrum medical countermeasures (MCMs) are effective across multiple threats, offering a frontline defense, and buying time to deploy targeted MCMs.

“With the proliferation of the number of threats, we can no longer rely on a ‘one bug, one drug’ approach,” reiterated Deputy Joint Program Executive Officer Ms. Nicole Kilgore, JPEO-CBRND. “At its core, our (JPEO-CBRND) medical strategy aims to exploit rapid response capabilities to respond faster to the unknown, while keeping our Joint Forces at the forefront. Today’s conversations on host directed therapeutics will help us get after broad-spectrum MCMs by addressing the body’s response to the infection, without even knowing what the specific pathogen is.”

“I see the Host Directed program as a key component of this strategy,” added Mr. Jeffrey Zerhusen, deputy JPM, JPM CBRN Medical, during his own opening remarks.

With the new advanced development Host Directed Therapeutics program not set to begin until Fiscal Year 2028, conversations and data from this event will critically shape the approach of the new program.

“Our intent here is not only to communicate what our strategy is and what we’re looking for as we stand up this program, but also to hear from you,” Zerhusen continued. “This program is not locked as far as how we will approach it, and the intent of doing this early is to learn from you all on what you think is in the realm of possibility.”

It takes a team to tackle tough problems, embracing out-of-the-box thinking to solve out-of-the-box problems, and no one in this space can do it alone.

“Our industry, academic, and interagency partners are crucial to developing those host directed therapeutics and other MCMs that we need,” said Morales. “We can only accomplish our goals by creating and leveraging sustainable partnerships with you, and that’s why we’ve brought everyone here today. Everyone here has something to contribute.”

Following opening remarks, the event kicked off with a packed agenda. Guest speaker Dr. Aarthi Narayanan, a professor in the department of biology at George Mason University, shared her research on vector-transmitted viral infectious diseases, with emphasis on host pathogen interactions. The afternoon continued with presentations from U.S. Army SBIR xTech, JPM CBRN Medical, BARDA, DTRA-JSTO, and NIAID representatives. Each agency shared current efforts in host directed therapeutics, as well as future plans and opportunities for partnering to continue development. Given that each agency funds projects at varying stages of development, bringing together all groups into one place provided a holistic overview of USG efforts, regardless of the end user.

Both industry and interagency attendees found the presentations to be useful, helping all involved to better map the current landscape, especially those attendees not located in the National Capital Region. Face-to-face networking opportunities like this industry day have been waning since the COVID-19 pandemic, but these in person, relationship-building events have proven invaluable.

“Overall, the Host Directed Therapeutics Industry Day was a stellar success,” said Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Kolen, Joint Product Manager for BDP, JPM CBRN Medical. “It not only provided industry with the ability to both learn about upcoming procurement timelines and acquisition strategies from multiple government organizations with enough time to reasonably react and apply resources towards those timelines, but also allowed our academic and industry partners the opportunity to present and discuss their capabilities and challenges, while receiving immediate feedback from government partners.”

This event informed the market research for the upcoming advanced development effort and was supplemented by the release of a Request for Information (RFI) on SAM.gov, prior to the event. Nearly 20 companies submitted whitepapers in response to the RFI, and a review panel composed of representatives from all attending USG development partners reviewed and selected 11 companies to provide follow-up presentations. These presentations were provided to the USG interagency by invitation on October 30, 2024. The presenting companies were provided immediate feedback to better prepare them to respond to future funding opportunities from any of the USG partners.

Industry Days are critically important engagements, bringing together subject matter experts from all sectors early, spurring collaboration and critical thinking, ultimately leading to the creation and availability of MCMs to treat our warfighters as quickly as possible. The information learned at this event and through the whitepaper responses will be combined with a patent search, in conjunction with the USPTO, to conduct comprehensive market research on Host Directed Therapeutic candidates.

For more information on how you can work with the JPEO-CBRND to provide solutions that protect the Joint Force and the warfighter, visit: Work With Us. You can also use the Joint Enterprise Technology Tool (JETT) platform to submit ideas or technologies that could benefit the Joint Force to combat CBRN threats (JETT Landing Page). Video of the event can also be viewed online at https://youtu.be/WB-22UaS8nE (morning session) and https://youtu.be/kuw0DML4Mac (afternoon session).

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First JPEO-CBRND Industry Day Focused on Host Directed Therapeutics Generates Ideas, Stimulates Collaboration

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