Mark Zuckerberg And Priscilla Chan Donate $25M To Gates Foundation Coronavirus Accelerator

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is donating $25 million to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-backed accelerator developing treatments to fight the novel coronavirus.

What Happened

The total number of deaths in the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic has exceeded 2,000, with 122,653 infections reported in its 55 states and territories. Due to the lack of a vaccine or a dedicated treatment, there is increasing interest in repurposing existing drugs to fight and treat the disease.

The COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator was launched with a $125 million seed funding and is a joint effort of Microsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates’ foundation, along with Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) and the Wellcome Trust, a London research-based charity. 

In a statement released by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the co-founders Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), said, "The Therapeutics Accelerator will enable researchers to quickly determine whether or not existing drugs have a potential benefit against COVID-19. We hope these coordinated efforts will help stop the spread of COVID-19 as well as provide shared, reusable strategies to respond to future pandemics."

Why It Matters

Pharmaceutical companies are in a race to repurpose drugs to treat the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. HIV protease inhibitors and drugs for Ebola are being considered for treatment. 

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INO), NanoViricides Inc. (NYSE: NNVC), and Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) are some of the companies working on this approach.

Photo Credit:: Anthony Quintano via Wikimedia.