The Biden administration said it will invest more than $3 billion from the American Rescue Plan for a coronavirus antiviral development strategy.
The administration announced Thursday that its Antiviral Program for Pandemics will aim to build sustainable platforms that foster development of antivirals to treat COVID-19 as well as other viruses with pandemic potential.
“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,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the president and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“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 said.
The U.S. coronavirus death toll surpassed 600,000 earlier this week, according to Johns Hopkins University data. President Biden set a target of having 70% of U.S. adults receive at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine by July 4, though the goal appears increasingly out of reach.