Feds to Spend $3.2B on Developing Antiviral Pills

Dr. Anthony Fauci announced a new Biden administration program to control Covid-19 and combat future pandemics.

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Biden administration will spend $3.2 billion on advancing the development of antiviral pills to fight Covid-19 and other viruses, the nation’s top infectious disease expert announced Thursday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a White House press briefing that the new antiviral program for pandemics is partially aimed at developing the next generation of Covid-19 treatments.

The program will also focus on accelerating Covid-19-related projects that are already in progress and fund the development of new treatments or therapies to combat other dangerous viruses that have the potential to cause future pandemics.

“There are few treatments that exist for many of the viruses that have what we call pandemic potential,” Fauci said, pointing to a graphic that displayed a family of viruses that “do in fact have potential to evolve into a pandemic.”

Those include other coronaviruses and some viruses that can develop into hemorrhagic fevers, Ebola or West Nile.

“Vaccines clearly remain the centerpiece in our arsenal against Covid-19,” he said. “However, antivirals can, and are, an important complement to existing vaccines.” This is especially true for people who have compromised immune systems.

The antiviral pills, which are currently in development, would be used to reduce symptoms following a Covid-19 infection, Fauci said. Like the development of the three Covid-19 vaccines currently in use in the U.S., he said the development of new pill treatments will be a coordinated effort between academia and industry.

According to Fauci, the first pillar of the program is to accelerate clinical testing of “promising antiviral medicines that are already in various stages of development.” The next pillar, he said, will focus on discovering new antiviral medications.

It is modeled after the program developed decades ago for the targeted development of drugs that led to successful therapies for controlling HIV.

Of the $3.2 billion total funding for the new program, $1 billion will go toward assisting preclinical and clinical evaluation. The same amount is to be used for the discovery of new antiviral medicines, and $700 million will aid in the development of manufacturing. The remaining $500 million will be allocated for research and laboratory support.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 598,301 people in the U.S. have died from Covid-19 as of Thursday.

So far, 44.1% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated against the virus.

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