Ending All Respiratory Infections
Stripe founders and experts have launched a $500 million initiative called Intercept to combat respiratory viruses through broad-spectrum preventatives and air cleaning technology. The project aims to replicate the success of historical public health infrastructure improvements by focusing on modern protein design and immunology.
Why it matters
This initiative represents a significant shift toward proactive, technology-driven public health solutions for endemic respiratory diseases.
Nan Ransohoff , Charlie Petty , and Devin Sok Jun 24, 2026 135 11 36 Share A century ago, waterborne diseases levied similar costs to those posed by respiratory viruses like colds and influenza today: endemic, periodically epidemic, and widely accepted as an inevitable feature of human life. Then, at the turn of the twentieth century, we decided they didn’t have to be. Pharmaceutical advances and clean water infrastructure made cholera, typhoid, and dysentery rare across much of the world within a matter of decades.
The article reports on a philanthropic initiative and scientific strategy without political framing.
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