- link Copy Url - [ Share on twitter ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Cadence Partners With Antiviral Discovery Consortium to Spearhead Rapid Development of Treatments for Viral Pandemics https://www.3blmedia.com/markdownify/node/1243431?absolute=1&via=3blnews "link to 3 B L Media's Twitter") - [ Share on linkedin ](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.3blmedia.com/markdownify/node/1243431?absolute=1 "link to 3 B L Media's Linkedin") - [ Share on facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.3blmedia.com/markdownify/node/1243431?absolute=1 "link to 3 B L Media's Facebook") - [ email Share via email ](mailto:?subject=Cadence Partners With Antiviral Discovery Consortium to Spearhead Rapid Development of Treatments for Viral Pandemics&body=ESG News from Cadence Design Systems https://www.3blmedia.com/markdownify/node/1243431?absolute=1 "Share via email") [Health & Healthcare](/CSR-News/health-healthcare) # Cadence Partners With Antiviral Discovery Consortium to Spearhead Rapid Development of Treatments for Viral Pandemics ##### Antiviral Discovery Effort Funded by $68M NIH Grant Dec 11, 2023 10:00 AM ET SANTA FE, N.M., December 11, 2023 /3BL/ - Cadence Molecular Sciences (OpenEye)—a business unit of Cadence Design Systems (Nasdaq: CDNS)—will provide OpenEye’s molecular design software to power the open-science AI-driven Structure-enabled Antiviral Platform (ASAP) Discovery Consortium in support of an innovative effort to rapidly develop antivirals to prevent future pandemics. John D. Chodera, PhD, a lab head at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), directs the researchers and software scientists building the computational chemistry infrastructure to support ASAP. “Dr. Chodera and the ASAP scientists working with him will have access to OpenEye tools to help support the ASAP Discovery Consortium and antiviral drug research,” said Anthony Nicholls, PhD, corporate vice president, OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences. “OpenEye’s software will aid in advancing therapeutics for under-researched diseases and to prepare for pandemics.” OpenEye’s Applications, Toolkits and Orion® platform—which include ROCS®, FastROCS™, BROOD, OMEGA, OEChemTK, Grapheme™, Nonequilibrium Switching (NES) Free Energy Calculations and other tools—enable computational chemists working with the ASAP Discovery Consortium to build a robust antiviral drug discovery pipeline using technology, structural biology, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and computational chemistry. “Open-science drug discovery against future pandemics is an essential public service,” said Chodera. “We are thrilled to have access to OpenEye’s industry-leading software in this effort. The OpenEye Toolkits have long been the backbone of our computer-aided drug discovery infrastructure, and access to the Orion NES Free Energy workflows allows us to run free energy calculations in mere hours.” The ASAP Discovery Consortium is an Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) U19 Center for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), via a $68 million grant as part of the Antiviral Program for Pandemics (APP). The NIH grant is for the initial three-year phase of the ASAP Discovery Consortium, which aims to deliver multiple drug candidates ready for evaluation in humans in the event of an ongoing or emerging pandemic threat. The project will maximize the use of an open science model that prioritizes global, equitable and affordable access to antiviral medicine, generating a wealth of antiviral data shared rapidly and openly. ASAP builds on the successes of the [COVID Moonshot](https://postera.ai/moonshot/), a global, open-science collaboration that began in March 2020 and rapidly identified potent antivirals targeting the main protease of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In July 2021, Moonshot received $11M in funding from the Wellcome Trust to pursue an accelerated preclinical program via the World Health Organization Access to COVID Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) and is working with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DND*i*) to pursue clinical trials with a straight-to-generics model. The ASAP Discovery Consortium is led by PIs John Chodera (MSKCC), Alpha Lee (PostEra) and Peter Sjö (DND*i*). ASAP partners include the Diamond Light Source (UK), the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), Medchemica (UK), Mount Sinai (USA), the Stanford University School of Medicine (USA) and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (USA), as well as a vast global network of scientists and industry collaborators. **About ASAP** The AI-driven Structure-enabled Antiviral Platform (ASAP) Discovery Consortium uses artificial intelligence and computational chemistry to accelerate structure-based open-science antiviral drug discovery and deliver oral antivirals for pandemics with the goal of global, equitable and affordable access. For more information about ASAP, including a complete list of diseases and drug targets and all open data that it has generated, visit [https://asapdiscovery.org](https://asapdiscovery.org/). **About Cadence** Cadence is a pivotal leader in electronic systems design, building upon more than 30 years of computational software expertise. The company applies its underlying Intelligent System Design strategy to deliver software, hardware and IP that turn design concepts into reality. Cadence customers are the world’s most innovative companies, delivering extraordinary electronic products from chips to boards to complete systems for the most dynamic market applications, including hyperscale computing, 5G communications, automotive, mobile, aerospace, consumer, industrial and healthcare. For eight years in a row, Fortune magazine has named Cadence one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Learn more at [cadence.com](http://www.cadence.com/). Category: Featured **Contacts** Cadence Newsroom 408-944-7039 [![](/sites/default/files/Clients/Cadence_Logo_Red_185_Reg.png)](/profiles/cadence-design-systems) ### More from Cadence Design Systems ###### [Reflecting and Connecting: Highlights From Our America's Women@Cadence Group](/news/reflecting-and-connecting-highlights-our-americas-womencadence-group) Jan 23, 2025 4:40 PM ET ###### [The Cadence Abilities Group Sparks Belonging at Work and in the Community](/news/cadence-abilities-group-sparks-belonging-work-and-community) Dec 13, 2024 11:30 AM ET ###### [Bridging Gaps with the Cadence Racial Equity Fund](/news/bridging-gaps-cadence-racial-equity-fund) Dec 5, 2024 11:15 AM ET ###### [Redefining Hearing Aids with Cadence DSPs](/news/redefining-hearing-aids-cadence-dsps) Nov 21, 2024 11:00 AM ET ###### [Fortune and Great Place to Work® Name Cadence One of the World’s Best Workplaces™ in 2024, Ranking No. 9](/news/fortune-and-great-place-workr-name-cadence-one-worlds-best-workplacestm-2024-ranking-no-9) Nov 19, 2024 11:00 AM ET ###### [Cadence Fem.AI Summit: A Journey of Inspiration](/news/cadence-femai-summit-journey-inspiration) Oct 29, 2024 10:00 AM ET ###### [Cadence Announces Fem.AI Alliance To Lead Gender Equity Revolution in the AI Workforce](/news/cadence-announces-femai-alliance-lead-gender-equity-revolution-ai-workforce) Oct 24, 2024 1:00 PM ET ###### [Embracing Heritage and Innovation: Reflecting on Cadence's Latinx Mercado Fiesta](/news/embracing-heritage-and-innovation-reflecting-cadences-latinx-mercado-fiesta) Oct 22, 2024 12:30 PM ET