TUSCAVIR Project

The TUSCAVIR.NET consortium aims to set up a certified, interdisciplinary consortium doing research and providing qualified services for the development of novel antiviral therapies. The consortium is based on a well well-consolidated multidisciplinary partnership among University of Siena, Azienda Ospedaliera Senese, Azienda Ospedaliera Pisana, and University of Florence into a new, full- fledged operating model integrating drug discovery and development capabilities into a modular package in the framework of a certified system.
The final goal is to provide the Regional Healthcare System with a qualified, specialized instrument promoting the research and development process in the critical area of antiviral therapy, through optimization of existing expertise, infrastructures, and economical resources.
TUSCAVIR.NET aims to establish a framework where the multiple steps in the preclinical antiviral drug development process are tightly connected and integrated, providing a significant advancement with respect to the typically sparse availability of such building blocks.
This entire project focuses on:
• Setting up a multicenter organization running the whole process from discovery to development of novel antiviral drugs entirely located in Tuscany, to provide the Healthcare system with a new and effective tool.
• Optimizing existing expertise and economical resources into a new competitive and organizational model able to provide qualified services to both public and private third parties, attract investments and offer business opportunities.

The project started from an idea of Prof. Maurizio Botta, an excellent scientist who was the leading mind of many projects already funded by Tuscany Region on the same topic (1. Design and synthesis of novel inhibitors of the human helicase DDX3: the next generation anti-HIV drugs, Bando Salute Regione Toscana; 2. UNAVIR: Rare Viral Diseases: an innovative strategy to fight them with a single antiviral agent, PAR FAS 2007-2013 Bando FAS Salute 2014; 3. PANVIR.NET: Preclinical Development of Novel Pan-Viral Agents within a Specialised Regional Network, POR FESR Bando 2 "Progetti di ricerca e sviluppo delle PMI".