From Labs to Legislation: The Interplay Between Academic Research and Political Realities

Abstract

Pandemics exact substantial human and economic tolls on society. Considering the interconnectedness of our global society, the recurrence of another viral pandemic appears virtually inevitable. In 2021, during the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration implemented a multifaceted approach to combat the spread of disease, including vaccine distribution, issuing public health guidance, testing, and tracing, providing economic relief, and investing in research and development. To this latter end, $3.2 billion was allocated from the American Rescue Plan Act1 to inaugurate the Antiviral Program for Pandemics (APP)2 under the aegis of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Central to this initiative was the establishment of nine Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Centers3, overseen by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), tasked with a comprehensive five-year mandate to discover and develop novel direct-acting antiviral therapeutics. These efforts aimed not only to mitigate the escalation of viral outbreaks into full-fledged pandemics but also to furnish effective treatments for afflicted individuals. $1.2 billion was earmarked for the AViDD program. Subsequently, $577 million was disbursed to sustain the initial three years of operations for the AViDD Centers. As the first three years of funding come to a close in fiscal year 2025, many projects across the Centers have made significant progress in identifying promising lead compounds with demonstrated effectiveness against coronaviruses and other viruses of pandemic potential. Approximately 150 publications from the 9 Centers are publicly available, and several Centers hold patents (provisional or otherwise) on promising chemical compounds.