Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have donated $25 million through their foundation to a philanthropic effort organized by Bill Gates to explore new coronavirus treatments.
The Gates Foundation donated $50 million last week to what it’s calling the “COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator.” The initiative brings together life sciences companies to collaborate on the development of new vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments for COVID-19.
“The Therapeutics Accelerator will enable researchers to quickly determine whether or not existing drugs have a potential benefit against COVID-19,” Chan and Zuckerberg said in a press release. “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.”
The two donations are the largest from tech billionaires since the coronavirus outbreak. Wellcome and Mastercard are supporting the effort as well.
The goal of the initiative is to either develop a new drug or adapt an existing treatment that it could help distribute alongside partnering pharmaceutical companies.
The 15 companies participating in the project kicked off the effort by sharing their proprietary libraries of molecular compounds that have some history of being tested with COVID-19.
The lineup includes big names in biotech such as Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, July 17, 2019.
The banking system relies on public trust; unfortunately for Facebook's cryptocurrency ambitions, the social media Goliath doesn't have an abundance of it.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) adds her own critiques of Facebook's proposed digital currency Libra, and states that it's the responsibility of Congress to potentially break apart tech firms that appear to acquire too much power.
Amid an investigation by Health Canada, CannTrust has halted sales of its cannabis and products. Although CannTrust's regulatory snag does not directly impact U.S. cannabis supply, Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg said that any turbulence in Canada's nascent industry could be cause for concern for its neighbor to the south.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, July 16, 2019.
For the first time, Uber will tie bonuses for it top executives to diversity goals aimed at increasing female and minority representation within the company, the ride-hailing giant announced on Monday.
Cryptocurrency exchange Seed CX has received two virtual currency licenses, better known as a BitLicenses, from the New York State Department of Financial Services.
President Donald Trump Thursday evening decided to share his negative opinions on cryptocurrencies and Facebook's plans for the Libra currency, drawing a backlash among blockchain proponents.
North Carolina is looking to bring to bring Virgin Hyperloop One technology to connect the Research Triangle of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill with high-speed transportation.
Volkswagen said it will invest a total of $2.6 billion in Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle technology firm that was founded just two years ago with a $1 billion backing from Ford.
