$125M Initiative to Boost Drug Discovery for COVID-19 Treatment

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and Mastercard recently launched an initiative to boost drug discovery and biologics to treat patients with COVID-19.

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The Gates Foundation and Wellcome each contributed $50 million, while the Mastercard Impact Fund committed nearly $25 million to launch the $125 million funded project, the COVID-19 Therapeutic Accelerator. The initiative intends to identify, assess, and scale-up treatments to make products available and affordable for vulnerable communities. 

“Viruses like COVID-19 spread rapidly, but the development of vaccines and treatments to stop them moves slowly. We believe we can help by partnering with private and philanthropic enterprises to lower the financial risk and technical barriers for biotech and pharmaceutical companies developing antivirals for COVID-19,” Mark Suzman, chief executive officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said in a statement. 

“If we want to make people, particularly the most vulnerable, safer from outbreaks then we need to find a way to unwind this paradox: to speed up R&D and slow down the spread.”

Antiviral drugs have not been effective against COVID-19. Experts believe that one reason for this is that products may not have an immediate market, which may slow or halt their research altogether.  

The Therapeutics Accelerator will draw on expertise from the World Health Organization (WHO), government and private sector funders and organizations, as well as the global regulatory and policy-setting institutions, to focus on pipeline development through manufacturing and scale. By sharing research, coordination, investment, and pooling resources, experts will enhance COVID-19 research. 

The Accelerator will screening thousands of compounds with safety data and consider new investigational compounds and monoclonal antibodies, the announcement stated. The drugs and monoclonal antibodies that pass initial screening will be developed by an industry partner.

By lowering the financial and technical risks for academia, biotech, and pharmaceutical companies, the Accelerator will ensure the products are accessible for all patients. Pharmaceutical company partners will then identify, research, and commercialize successful drugs. 

Parallel to the COVID-19 drug pipeline, the Accelerator will work with regulators to align criteria and develop manufacturing capacity. An accelerated pathway to bring treatments to patients is nearly one year for products that have regulatory approval or patients with existing clinical data. But experts said that the timeline would be longer for compounds further upstream in the pipeline that have limited existing clinical data.

“This virus is an unprecedented global threat, and one for which we must propel international partnership to develop treatments, rapid diagnostics, and vaccines,” Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome, said in the statement. “Science is moving at a phenomenal pace against COVID-19, but the get ahead of this epidemic we need greater investment and to ensure research co-ordination.”

“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 efforts is vital if we are to change the course of this epidemic. We welcome others to join us in this effort.”

Experts believe that bringing together resources and expertise through the Accelerator will de-risk pathways for new drugs for COVID-19 and future epidemic threats, which will ensure access for those in vulnerable communities. 

“We’re proud to join this crucial effort to combat COVID-19 in furtherance to our commitment to inclusive growth,” said Mike Froman, vice chairman of Mastercard. “This global challenge not only represents a risk to the health and safety of populations all over the world, but also poses a potential disruption to economic vitality of millions of people, businesses, and organizations worldwide.”

“Our experience with financial inclusion shows us the importance to building a network of parties who bring not only their capital, but complementary assets and skillsets to the table, and we welcome other partners concerned about inclusive growth to join this effort,” he concluded.