BARDA (via HHS) launched a $100 million prize competition to accelerate development of broad‑spectrum small‑molecule antivirals targeting Togaviridae and Flaviviridae families. The multi‑stage program aims to incentivize new chemotypes, overcome traditional funding gaps for antivirals, and attract industry teams to medicinal chemistry and preclinical development challenges. The prize approach reflects a pivot toward prize‑driven inducements to complement grants and contracts in pandemic preparedness. Officials framed the competition as a way to rapidly identify solutions against viral families that pose outbreak risk but lack approved, widely deployable small‑molecule therapies. Competitors, biotech drug hunters and academic groups will measure the opportunity against BARDA’s historical contracting model; prizes can accelerate early discovery while shifting later‑stage development risk back to industry partners.