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In Search Of Antivirals For The Next Pandemic, A New Fund To De-Risk R&D

First Target Is Worrying Nipah Virus Family

 
• By Andrew McConaghie

Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Gates Foundation and Open Philanthropy are providing an initial $90m to fund more antiviral candidates through to proof-of-concept Phase II studies.

Paxlovid
Pfizer's Paxlovid is now being rolled out two years into the pandemic - the world can be better prepared next time, but early antiviral drug discovery needs to be properly funded. • Source: Alamy

The world needs to better prepared for the next pandemic, including having more novel antivirals ready to go when it strikes, but funding for early discovery and development is currently patchy.

To address this problem, a new Pandemic Antiviral Discovery (PAD) initiative has been set up by three charities, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Open Philanthropy, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who are making an initial

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