Nearly $8.5 billion has so far been committed to finding diagnostics, treatments and vaccines to battle Covid-19, the fastest ever scale-up of research and development to fight an infectious disease.
The Covid-19 R&D tracker, put together by the global health think tank Policy Cures Research, has identified more than 850 product candidates in development to fight the virus with by far the greatest investment being made in vaccines.
Some $4.9bn has been committed to vaccines, compared to $1bn for therapeutics and $731m for diagnostics. The rest of the funding is not specified. Governments are the major funders with the single biggest donor to R&D efforts being the United States government which has pledged nearly $3.4bn.
This is followed by Germany which has committed just over $1bn. The UK is the third largest funder and has committed just over $700m. The UK’s biggest single donation is of $49m which has gone to the Covid-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, which is aiming to speed up the development of new drugs.
China has committed nearly $300m but the tracker also reveals that many smaller, low and middle income countries have also committed to fight the virus. Ethiopia, for example, has given $300,000 to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi) which is funding vaccine development. And Nigeria is spending $20,000 on vaccine development.
The tracker has revealed a “flourishing” R&D pipeline with at least 171 vaccine candidates, 319 potential therapeutics and 364 diagnostic tests currently in development. The speed with which the pipeline is progressing is impressive, particularly for vaccines, the tracker highlights. Around 15 candidates are in late stage development, with an Oxford University-led vaccine ready to be rolled out in October.
The tracker highlights that nearly 100 different diagnostics have been approved for emergency use.
But for drugs and treatments the picture is less promising, the tracker reveals. So far only one anti-viral - remdesivir - has been conditionally approved by a regulatory authority, and most of the drugs being studied are existing treatments.
There are less than 20 genuinely new or nearly new anti-viral candidates currently in human trials. None of these have so far proved effective. Only one treatment has so far been shown to reduce the risk of death - the steroid dexamethasone.
A trial of a range of different existing drugs led by researchers at Oxford University showed that the drug reduced the risk of death by a third in the sickest patients. The drug is now being made available nationally. The same trial has already ruled out the controversial malaria treatment hydroxychloroquine after it was found to be ineffective.
The tracker also says there is a need for more investments in basic research to better understand Covid-19. Product development is the focus of most research, even while some critical basic science-related questions remain unanswered, including how long immunity is likely to last in patients who have had the disease.
“We’ve never before seen such a rapid escalation of research and development (R&D) to fight an infectious disease,” said Dr Nick Chapman, CEO of Policy Cures Research.
“This big push for breakthroughs showcases the world’s ability to rapidly respond, but we must remain grounded in the reality that we are in this for the long haul, and continue to work to ensure everyone receives access to any new tools.”
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