Funding (£10 Million) for Development and Testing of Therapeutics to Treat COVID-19
LifeArc is calling for applications from academics, NHS employees or companies that have therapeutics that could be repurposed or repositioned for use in COVID-19 patients.
The primary purpose is to accelerate the availability of treatments for patients and it is therefore expected that applicants will already have material available for testing and a plan for rapid scale-up of clinical material. Priority will be given to projects that have a clear path and availability for patients in a 6-12 month time frame.
LifeArc has made available an initial £10M for the identification of therapeutics that can be rapidly deployed to treat COVID-19. The aim is to run trials in patients during the current epidemic. It is anticipated that applications will be for funding to repurpose one or more drugs that are generic, already licensed, or are in late-stage development for another indication.
Plans for the structure of the clinical trials should be in advanced stages of development and should follow the specialist guidance from the regulators on COVID-19 trials.
The expectation is that the data obtained will be shared openly and, where knowledge obtained could benefit the development of other COVID-19 therapeutics, this should be done as quickly as is reasonably possible.
Funding Information
The grant will pay for the direct costs of the trials and the science associated with that. There is no official cap on the size of applications, however, it is anticipated that a small number of the most promising projects will be funded from the £10M currently available.
