A new initiative has just been launched – with seed funding commitments totaling up to $125 million – in an aim towards boosting the development of treatments to fight the new coronavirus pandemic.
The COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator will be operated and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome and Mastercard, using expertise from inside and outside their organizations to support the research and development process of potential treatments.
“COVID-19 is an extremely challenging virus, but we’ve proved that through collaborating across borders we can tackle emerging infectious diseases,” highlights the director of Wellcome, Dr. Jeremy Farrar. “We must strive to strengthen efforts in the face of COVID-19, and in doing so, continue to make sure advances are accessible and affordable to all. Investing now, at scale, at risk and as a collective global effort is vital if we are to change the course of this epidemic. We welcome others to join us in this effort.”
The initiative is intended to bring together resources and provide potential treatments that are both “accessible and affordable to people in low-resource settings”, explains the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in a statement, adding that pharmaceutical companies are crucial in helping identify, study, and commercialize successful treatments.
