Covid, this is how much and why America is betting on antivirals
The United States will invest more than $ 3 billion in the development of Covid-19 antivirals
The Biden administration will invest more than $ 3 billion in the development and manufacture of antiviral pills to treat the coronavirus, the Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday.
"New antivirals that prevent serious illness and death, especially oral medications that could be taken at home early in the disease, would be powerful tools to fight the pandemic and save lives," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the Biden president and the nation's foremost expert on infectious diseases – reports the WSJ .
The $ 3.2 billion investment will be awarded by the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package that Biden signed into law in March. In a briefing Thursday, Dr Fauci said the funding could speed up clinical trials "already underway" for some antiviral pills and potentially make some of them available later this year. Oral antiviral drugs would be designed to be taken at home and to treat symptoms early in the course of the infection.
Dr Fauci said coronavirus vaccines "remain the core of our arsenal" in the fight against the pandemic, but stressed that antiviral drugs would serve as an important complement in preventing serious illness and hospitalization.
Researchers are testing antivirals in pill form that could become a kind of Tamiflu for Covid-19. Merck & Co. and its partner, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP, said in April that they were testing the oral antiviral drug, known as molnupiravir, to treat patients early in their disease course and who are at high risk for Covid complications. 19.
The companies had stopped a separate trial by testing the drug in hospitalized patients after it proved to be of no use. But Merck said if a study proves successful for out-of-hospital patients, the company could file an emergency use permit in the second half of this year.
Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla also said an oral Covid-19 treatment the company is developing could be available for use later this year. The company began a trial in March to test the oral Covid-19 drug in people.
The only antiviral authorized by the Food and Drug Administration is Remdesivir from Gilead Sciences Inc. and has been shown to provide only modest benefit in hospitalized patients, shortening their stay by a few days.
The FDA has also authorized three monoclonal antibody-based drugs manufactured by Eli Lilly & Co. and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. for people with mild to moderate Covid-19. But their use has been limited, in part because they are given by intravenous infusion, which can be laborious for hospitals to manage.
As part of the plan announced Thursday, the National Institutes of Health will "evaluate, prioritize and advance" antiviral candidates in Phase 2 clinical trials, according to a statement from HHS.
The funding includes more than $ 300 million for research and laboratory support, nearly $ 1 billion for preclinical and clinical evaluation, and nearly $ 700 million for development and manufacturing through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority.
(Extract from the foreign press review by Epr Comunicazione)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/covid-ecco-quanto-e-perche-lamerica-scommette-sugli-antivirali/ on Sun, 20 Jun 2021 06:08:42 +0000.