The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $40 million in equity investment and $10 million in grant funding to Vir Biotechnology for the development of therapies against HIV and Malaria, Vir announced Friday. San Francisco-based Vir developed the COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment sotrovimab with Glaxo Smith Kline, which the U.S. government has been buying to fight Omicron. The new initiative will extend the treatment approach and includes a clinical trial to test the ability of therapeutic antibodies to suppress HIV in a durable, vaccine-like way. Vir was co-founded by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center investigator Larry Corey.
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