$5B in federal money to be used in development of new COVID-19 treatments

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - $5 billion from Washington is being used in the development of new COVID-19 treatments as part of “Project Next Gen.”

Doctor Costi Sifri with UVA Health says Project Next Gen is designed to accelerate the development of new vaccines and therapies to fight COVID-19.

“There is significant interest in a nasal vaccine as well as new or second generation or new generation therapies,” Dr. Sifri said.

That federal money is in place to find medications as new variants emerge, especially as monoclonal treatment options dwindle.

“We know that these were very effective therapies with earlier COVID variants, but unfortunately these products like Regeneron that have proven to be very effective in preventing or treating COVID infection lost their efficacy with the development of these new variants,” Dr. Sifri said.

Dr. Sifri says this is all welcome news at UVA Health.

“Many people in our community were advocating for this, so I think we were very encouraged and excited that the White House supported that,” he said.

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