US unveils $3.2 billion plan to develop pill that can kill Covid-!9

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<strong>The United States unveiled $3.2 billion expenditure plan on Thursday to expedite the development and discovery of antiviral treatments to fight Covid-19 and tackle threats of any other pandemic in the future.</strong></p>
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The program will support the development of antiviral pills.  If all goes well, some of those first pills could be ready by the end of the year. The Antiviral Program for Pandemics will also support research on entirely new drugs — not just for the coronavirus, but for viruses that could cause future pandemics, according to the New York Times.</p>
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The plan will help accelerate clinical testing for oral antiviral pills currently under various stages of development, such as Merck's molnupiravir as well as efforts by Pfizer and Atea-Roche.</p>
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The plan is for these to be taken very early after an infection is confirmed, in order to stop the disease from progressing to the severe stage — mimicking what Tamiflu does for influenza.</p>
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Funding for the plan will come from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion package passed by Congress in March.</p>
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Anthony Fauci, the US President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor on the pandemic said he looked forward to a time when Covid-19 patients could pick up antiviral pills from a pharmacy as soon as they tested positive for the coronavirus or develop Covid-19 symptoms.</p>
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Antiviral medication can also act as an important line of defence against emerging variants of concern that evade the protective action of current generation vaccines, he explained.</p>
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The other pillar of the program is seeding the discovery of new antivirals — not just against this coronavirus and its wider family, but other families of viruses that are believed to have pandemic potential.</p>
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A number of other viruses, including influenza, H.I.V. and hepatitis C, can be treated with a simple pill. But despite more than a year of research, no such pill exists to treat someone with a coronavirus infection before it wreaks havoc. Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s program for accelerating Covid-19 research investedfar more money in the development of vaccines than of treatments, a gap that the new program will try to fill, the New York Times said.</p>