technologyreview.com
A new nonprofit called Intercept has launched with backing from Stripe, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, Flu Lab, Bill Gates and others.
The group is raising $500M to fund technologies aimed at reducing respiratory infections such as colds, flu, RSV and Covid.
Its focus is on two areas: broad-spectrum preventatives, like vaccines, nasal sprays or pills that could work across many respiratory viruses, and better indoor air purification systems.
The idea is to shift from reacting to infections after they spread to preventing transmission in the first place, especially in shared indoor spaces.
If successful, the project could reduce routine illness, missed work and school, healthcare burden, and future pandemic risk.