Switzerland is launching a project to support the development of four anti-Covid drugs with Swiss biopharmaceutical companies, the Swiss Ministry of Health announced on Monday.
The Confederation has signed contracts with four biopharmaceutical companies for a total amount of 27 million Swiss francs (25.9 million euros) as part of a program to encourage work on drugs against Covid-19, said the Federal Office of Public Health in a press release.
Medicines that could be available by the end of 2022
The projects focus on the development of a monoclonal antibody to treat long-term Covid with the Geneva company GeNeuro, on an oral drug combination with antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity for the severe aspects of the infection with the Basel company
Kinarus, and on a monoclonal antibody, administered by inhalation or intravenously, for patients likely to develop a severe form of the infection with the Zurich company
Memo Therapeutics AG.
The fourth project concerns an oral pulmonary vasodilator intended to prevent respiratory failure and reduce the need for mechanical ventilation in the event of hospitalization, and is being developed with the Basel biopharmaceutical company Noorik Biopharmaceuticals, details the Ministry of Health in the press release. The drugs should be available by the end of 2022, the statement said.
Pharmacy, a pillar of the Swiss economy
“We are extremely grateful for this funding,” responded Jesús Martin-Garcia, CEO of Geneva-based GeNeuro, in a statement. Created in 2006, with the help of the French company bioMérieux, this biopharmaceutical company listed on Euronext Paris, was allocated 6.7 million Swiss francs under these contracts. The sum will help to co-finance a Phase 2 clinical trial for its treatment called temelimab in patients with long Covid, specifies this company specializing in treatments for neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases.
The pharmacy is one of the pillars of the Swiss economy. If the best-known companies are the giants Novartis and Roche, the economy also relies on the many smaller laboratories. Last year, exports from the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sector amounted to 116 billion Swiss francs, with drugs alone accounting for 20% of the Alpine country’s exports.