Covid-19 roundup: Gates Foun­da­tion, Ex­sci­en­tia team up on pan­dem­ic an­tivi­ral dis­cov­ery pact; No­vavax opens tri­al for coro­n­avirus/flu com­bo vac­cine

UK-based AI dis­cov­ery out­fit Ex­sci­en­tia has signed its name to a $70 mil­lion col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Bill and Melin­da Gates Foun­da­tion to drum up five an­tivi­ral can­di­dates for use against coro­n­avirus­es and po­ten­tial pan­dem­ic virus­es, the part­ners said Wednes­day.

The part­ner­ship will pay Ex­sci­en­tia $35 mil­lion in eq­ui­ty through the Gates Foun­da­tion’s Strate­gic In­vest­ment Fund with the po­ten­tial for more grant fund­ing. Ex­sci­en­tia, mean­while, will front $35 mil­lion in match­ing funds to sup­port the dis­cov­ery work up to Phase I. The term of the pact is four years, and Ex­sci­en­tia will be tasked with find­ing “small mol­e­cule ther­a­peu­tics with less sus­cep­ti­bil­i­ty to vari­ants and greater pa­tient ac­cess than cur­rent ap­proach­es,” the com­pa­ny said in a re­lease.

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