The common cold, along with the flu, is one of the most widespread and annoying infections, yet there is no cure or effective vaccine. Now, a consortium of tech giants led by Stripe, with support from Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, and Bill Gates, has launched Intercept, a nonprofit organization armed with $500 million to prevent and ultimately eliminate respiratory viruses.
A philanthropic fund inspired by Frontier's success
Stripe, the payments company founded by the Collison brothers, has already demonstrated its ability to mobilize capital for global causes with the $1.8 billion Frontier program for carbon removal. Nan Ransohoff, a Stripe executive leading Intercept along with venture capitalist Charlie Petty, explains that the lack of commercial incentives has kept pharmaceutical companies away from cold prevention, despite the huge societal burden. The average person spends 5% of their lifetime fighting a cold or the flu, according to Ransohoff.
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The challenge of 200 viruses and new technologies
The reason there is no universal vaccine is the multitude of pathogens: over 200 different viruses cause the common cold, according to the American Lung Association, with rhinoviruses being the most common. David Veesler, a structural biologist at the University of Washington, convinced Ransohoff that modern technologies—RNA, antibodies, and computational protein design—can provide broad-spectrum countermeasures. One promising idea is to engineer virus-grabbing proteins that people could spray in their nasal passages to catch viruses before infection.
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Air purification and collaboration with FDA experts
Intercept will also fund large-scale air purification systems for schools and offices, using ultraviolet light to inactivate viruses. This approach is similar to how cities treat drinking water. The advisory board will include Peter Marks, a former top FDA official, and Moncef Slaoui, who led Operation Warp Speed. The fund aims to fill the gap left by public funding: NIAID allocates about $6.5 billion annually for virus research, but the budget has not grown in years.
This initiative is part of a broader philanthropic movement by big tech in biomedical research. Previously, Stripe helped fund the Arc Institute with $650 million for AI models in biology. Veesler is enthusiastic: "The diversity of viruses seems overwhelming, but we are happy that someone is ready to help scientists not accept the status quo".
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For more on big tech's role in fighting infections, read the related article: Big Tech USA funds fight against the common cold — and Europe watches from the sidelines. For additional information on the common cold, see Wikipedia.
