US invests $3 billion to develop and produce drugs to treat Covid-19
The US Department of Health and Human Services said the country will invest more than $3 billion to develop and produce antiviral drugs to treat Covid-19.
According to Dr. Antony Fauci, the leading expert on infectious diseases in the US, antiviral drugs will be an important tool to limit hospitalization and death rates and control the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Biden administration will set aside $3.2 billion from its $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package to develop and manufacture drugs to treat Covid-19, Dr. Fauci said. The money will help accelerate clinical trials underway for several antiviral pill-based drugs that could be ready for production by the end of the year.
If successful, Americans could use these drugs at home to treat initial symptoms of infection.
To date, only the antiviral drug remdesivir from Gilead Sciences has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in treating hospitalized Covid-19 patients./.