BARDA Announces SMART Antiviral Prize Concept Stage Winners, Expands Competition to $150 Million

Additional $50 million investment will accelerate development of promising broad-spectrum small molecule antiviral drug candidates

Washington, D.C. — [August 26, 2026] — The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with VITAL — a BARDA Accelerator Network Hub — today announced nine winners of the SMART Antiviral Prize Concept Stage and an additional $50 million in funding, for a total of $150 million, to increase the anticipated dollar value and number of awards for this initiative.

The multi-stage competition advances BARDA’s effort to accelerate development of broad-spectrum antiviral therapeutics that have the potential to treat infections caused by multiple viruses within the same viral family. The nine Concept Stage winners were selected for innovative approaches targeting viruses in the Flaviviridae and Togaviridae families, including dengue, Zika, West Nile, and chikungunya — pathogens for which no FDA-approved broad-spectrum antiviral treatments currently exist.

“At the launch of the SMART Antiviral Prize earlier this year, we challenged the scientific community to rethink how we develop antiviral countermeasures for biological threats,” said John Knox, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. “The response has been extraordinary. These winners represent promising scientific approaches, and expanding the competition to $150 million will help accelerate the development of drug candidates that strengthen our nation’s preparedness.”

Each winning team will receive $2.5 million to support hit-to-lead studies that advance promising antiviral candidates toward the next phase of development.

Emory University: Flaviviridae
Hackensack Meridian Health – Center for Discovery & Innovation: Flaviviridae
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: Flaviviridae
Neomorph, Inc.: Flaviviridae
RTI International: Togaviridae
Rockefeller University: Flaviviridae
Shionogi Inc.: Flaviviridae
Stanford University: Togaviridae
Washington University: Togaviridae

The completion of the Concept Stage marks the first major milestone in the multi-stage competition, which was launched by the Trump Administration to encourage both traditional and non-traditional innovators to develop broad-spectrum antiviral therapies that can treat multiple viruses within the same viral family.

With the Concept Stage awardees announced, VITAL will soon launch Stage 1: Hit-to-Lead, which is expected to issue multiple awards up to a total of $52.5 million in milestone-based prizes. During this stage, competitors will identify promising antiviral compounds and build the early evidence needed to determine the candidates that would advance into lead optimization.

For more information about Stage 1, including eligibility requirements, competition timelines, and application materials, visit SMARTantiviral.com.

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