Coronavirus, the fundraising marathon for a vaccine has started

"May 4th will mark a turning point in the fight against coronavirus, there are many partners but the goal is unique ." So the president of the EU Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen , announcing the donation of one billion euros and starting the marathon to raise funds World against Covid-19, for the development of a vaccine. "We must join forces and donate. We must reach at least 7.5 billion euros, or 8 billion dollars."

The Coronavirus vaccine "must be treated as a global good, accessible to all and for all". Today we have the initial goal of raising "eight billion dollars", but we need many more and this requires more efforts. This was stated by the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, speaking in the marathon.

"Today is a historic initiative." Facing this challenge against Covid-19 "each one for himself would be a mistake. We can only go out together. France will do its part, we will strengthen our support for the next two years to WHO and we donate € 500 million to fundraising World against Covid-19 ". So the French President Emmanuel Macron.

For the development of a vaccine against Covid-19 "an urgent global effort is needed. This is not a competition between countries". So did British Prime Minister Boris Johnson .

Italy "will make a contribution of 10 million euros to Cepi (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) to" speed up the search for a vaccine. It will make a contribution of 10 million euros to the WHO, to support the most vulnerable countries in their response to Covid-19. We will allocate half a million euros to the Global Fund for the Response Mechanism at Covid-19. We are committed to making a contribution of 120 million euros over the next 5 years to the Gavi alliance for global immunization from Covid. " Giuseppe Conte announces it at the World against Covid-19 fundraising marathon." Italy wants to have a special role "in efforts to" ensure equitable and universal access to vaccines, treatments and diagnoses "on Covid-19, adds the premier. Italy wants to have this role" not only as a country that, unfortunately, has gathered a great deal of experience in the fight against the virus, he is now ready to share this experience but also for the incoming G20 2021 presidency. Italy is ready to do its part, together we will make it ", he adds.

THE INTERVIEW - Only the vaccine can save us, but we must hurry. And the contribution of Italy, with its excellence in the scientific field, can be of great help in achieving concrete results as soon as possible, however by the end of the year. This, in short, is the position expressed by the EU commissioner for research and culture Mariya Gabriel in an interview with ANSA. 

In view of today's international donor conference to mobilize the resources needed to conduct the battle of science against Covid-19, the Commissioner took stock of the initiatives already put in place to find a vaccine in the coming months. "We must develop it as soon as possible - said Gabriel - produce it and distribute it in every single corner of the world". For this, according to what scientists say, at least 7.5 billion euros are needed, but also close collaboration between the best researchers in the world and in this context "Italy is very involved".

The 'Coronavirus Global Response', as the initiative that will be presented today was baptized, aims to bring together the forces of governments, companies, artists and citizens to activate a fundraising campaign, to add to the 380 million euros already mobilized from Brussels, to support research on three fronts: diagnostics, treatments and vaccines. In this battle, Gabriel stressed, some of the best Italian brains and universities are already engaged.

"The Milanese pharmaceutical company Dompè - said the commissioner - guides a European supercomputing platform, Exscalate4CoV, which has won a three million euro loan through the emergency call for the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program". The goal is to quickly identify effective coronavirus molecules and drugs to treat the infected population.

"Researchers from the Cineca interuniversity consortium of Bologna, the Polytechnic and the University of Milan, Federico II of Naples, the University of Cagliari, the BigData association, the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (Ifn) and the Spallanzani Institute of Rome " . A cooperation involving 18 partners from 7 EU countries (Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). According to experts, this is the most performing supercomputer platform in the world: it has the ability to evaluate 3 million molecules per second and has a chemical library containing over 10 thousand drugs and 500 billion molecules.

At present, 100 potential antiviral molecules have already been identified and are the subject of biological screening in the laboratories of the KU Leuven University in Belgium, the Fraunhofer IME in Germany and the University of Cagliari. "The first tests will be completed within the next few weeks," said the Commissioner. "The selected molecules will then go on to clinical tests, in order to be able to identify a safe treatment for humans, possibly ready to be used on patients within three months. ENI will also contribute its own supercomputing infrastructure."

In addition to Exscalate4Cov, Italy is at the forefront of the Coronadx project in which the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan and the Lodi Icons Foundation collaborate with six other EU and Chinese research groups to develop tools for rapid diagnosis. . While the Policlinico San Matteo of Pavia participates in the Atac project to develop passive immunotherapy for coronavirus. IGEA, a company based in Carpi , then collaborates in Opencorona, to search for a vaccine against Covid-19: researchers will start testing on animals within a couple of weeks and possibly the first human trials will start in 2021.

"We are proud of our researchers, Europe is their home, the place for talent" concluded Gabriel hoping that the efforts undertaken will be able to give the hoped for results as soon as possible to free the continent and the whole planet from the worst pandemic of the last century.