Geneva – Unitaid is pleased to announce that France has contributed €10 million (US$11 million) to Unitaid’s work in the Therapeutics Partnership of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A). This is in addition to the core funding that France provides to Unitaid.

The Therapeutics Partnership is co-convened by Unitaid alongside Wellcome. The two organisations are charged with leading global efforts to develop, manufacture and distribute treatments for all stages of the disease; to prevent, suppress, treat and support recovery from COVID-19.

“On behalf of Unitaid and our partners at Wellcome, I am really grateful to France for this extra support for our work to deliver medicines and therapies against COVID-19,” said Dr Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Executive Director, a.i. “We hope France will show the way to other donors to support the urgent and important work we need to do for therapeutics against this epidemic”.

The Therapeutics Partnership’s aim is to discover treatments fast; produce at scale and enable access; and deliver to all. Effectives therapies are needed to treat people affected by COVID-19, even if vaccines become available. The earlier people get access to therapeutics, the greater the impact for health, for health system burdens, and for our economies.

The Partnership is actively looking at some 1,700 trials and has already identified several promising candidates, including antivirals and monoclonal antibodies. Manufacturing capacity and procurement arrangements are being put into place, with active preparation for supply and deliver. These treatments will be on the market in the coming months and should be available in all parts of the world. The ACT-A Therapeutics Partnership need resources to ensure equitable access to these medicines in LMICs.

Unitaid and Wellcome, together with all the ACT-A partners, call on leaders around the world to respond decisively to this public health and economic challenge. Effective medicines and therapies are a key part of the response, especially for those for whom vaccines are not suitable or because they are simply not available for any reason.

No-one is safe until everyone is safe. Where you live, shouldn’t determine whether you live.

The time has come to ACT. ACT Now. ACT Together. ACT to end COVID-19.

• Executive Board’s e-Resolution: R14-2020-e: Additional contribution from France

For information on Unitaid’s response to COVID-19 please see https://unitaid.org/covid-19/#en

Media contact: Martin HARVEY | +41 79 249 35 29 | harveym@unitaid.who.int

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