Gates, charities pledge $125m to fight virus
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and two other large charities yesterday pledged up to $125 million to help speed the development of treatments for the fast-spreading coronavirus, which the World Health Organization said on Monday was nearing pandemic proportions. The effort, known as the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, will focus on new and repurposed drugs that can be used right away to treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus and possibly other viruses in the future. The money is intended to ensure that treatments for the virus will be available in poor countries and affordable for individuals. The Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust medical charity are each contributing up to $50 million, and the Mastercard Impact Fund has committed up to $25 million for initial projects.
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