A laboratory in north Jersey is now the hub where new COVID-19 treatments will be developed. The Metropolitan Antiviral Drug Accelerator Program, or MADVA, a partnership between scientists and drugmakers, is aimed at creating drugs that can be taken by mouth while patients’ symptoms of COVID-19 are still mild.
“It’s only really recently that we even have an effective therapeutic against COVID. We’re seeing not only this pandemic, but the potential for other pandemics, and the way to avoid those pandemics is really to have these discoveries on the shelf, ready to go,” said Robert Garret, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health, which is one of the partners in the program. The federally funded $65-million program will last for at least three years. If the consortium hits milestones and produces drugs, the funding could continue for another two years.
