COVID-19 therapy research

Submitted by Imogen Allan on 12 February 2021

Summary of the European Alliance Against Coronavirus weekly webinars (every Tuesday and Thursday) - 4 February 2021

In the European Alliance Against Coronavirus meeting on 4 February 2021, the group talked with Horst Domdey (BioM Biotech Cluster Development) and Daniel Vitt (Immunic AG) about an element of the fight against COVID-19 that has, so far, been largely overlooked – therapeutics.

Europe must get involved in this field. The German BioM cluster set an example, involving the regional parliament in Bavaria in order to receive funding towards therapeutics. There are currently 25 proposals in the evaluation process, all of which could potentially lead to new therapeutics to be utilised in the fight against COVID-19.

Daniel Vitt, from company Immunic, emphasises the need for therapeutics in light of the fact that there is still high ongoing disease activity. Companies cannot develop them alone, and urgently need funding support. For now, only a very limited number of projects have advanced to clinical phase 2 or 3. He further highlights the importance of speed in this development, and the requirement for a good fast track that balances the benefits and risks. This requires new regulations that involve less bureaucracy.

The group discussed the next steps to be taken by the European Commission, the Council of European BioRegions and the clusters and companies in order to bring this topic to the forefront.

Morning webinars are open to everyone. Sign up to receive invitations here.

Find the recording from this session here.

Find all the links to the morning sessions here, and upcoming topics can be found here.

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