Biden Invests Over $3B to Boost COVID-19 Antiviral Development

The Biden Administration will invest over $3 billion to accelerate the discovery, development, and manufacturing of COVID-19 antiviral medicines.

The initiative, called the Antiviral Program for Pandemics, is part of the administration’s whole-of-government strategy to develop the next generation of COVID-19 treatments. The plan will respond to the urgent need for antivirals to treat COVID-19 by encouraging availability of medicines to prevent serious illness and save lives, the administration said.

“New antivirals that prevent serious COVID-19 illness and death, especially oral drugs that could be taken at home early in the course of disease, would be powerful tools for battling the pandemic and saving lives,” Anthony Fauci, MD, chief medical adviser to the president and NIAID Director, said in the announcement.

“Through multidisciplinary collaborations among leading scientists in academia and industry, this investment from the American Rescue Plan to create the Antiviral Program for Pandemics will help inspire medical innovation and build on the extraordinary success we have seen in developing the COVID-19 vaccines,” Fauci continued. 

Through collaboration with HHS, NIH, NIAID, and ASPR, the plan speeds up the administration’s ongoing efforts to support clinical trials to test prioritized drug candidates for COVID-19 and support the advanced development of promising therapies.

So far, 19 therapeutics have been prioritized for testing in rigorous clinical trials for outpatients and inpatients infected with the coronavirus. As part of the collaboration, NIH will advance antiviral candidates to Phase 2 clinical trials using contract resources. 

The plan provides over $300 million for research and lab support, nearly $1 billion for preclinical and clinical evaluation, and about $700 million for development and manufacturing through NIAID and BARDA.

Additionally, the initiative allocates close to $1.2 billion to support the creation of collaborative drug discovery groups called Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Centers for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern. The groups will create innovative antiviral drug discovery and development. 

Notably, the AViDD Centers will create platforms that will initially target coronaviruses that could be expanded to other viruses, helping to better prepare the nation for future viral threats.

An HHS spokesperson explained that having additional FDA-authorized antiviral medicines available would be a “major breakthrough” in ongoing efforts to combat the pandemic and protect the public. 

Therefore, the administration announced last week that the US government would procure about 1.7 million courses of Merck’s investigational COVID-19 treatment, also part of the whole-of-government approach.

The approach leverages all expertise and resources available to respond to COVID-19, such as funding the development and manufacturing of therapeutics, including antivirals.

 “An easily administered oral antiviral drug would be an important part of our therapeutic arsenal that would complement the great success of our vaccine efforts. Our Administration is going to harness the power of American ingenuity to spur the creation and development of these drugs that can save lives both here in the United States and around the world,” David Kessler, chief scientific officer for the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 Response said in the recent announcement.