Microsoft founder, entrepreneur and philanthropist Bill Gates, writing for the New York Times, expressed the view that it is necessary to develop the methodology for creating therapeutic drugs, and the COVID-19 pandemic could have gone differently if scientists had managed to invent a medicine much earlier. 

Gates stressed the importance of therapeutics and clinical treatments, noting that many people had already received at least one dose of the vaccine when the first coronavirus drugs were available. He spoke about the need for a long time to vaccinate the population and added that not everyone does this, despite the possible availability of drugs. Therefore, therapeutic agents are especially needed, Gates concludes. 

The entrepreneur recalled that the development of an antiviral drug is a long process that takes several years. At the same time, the resulting medicine is not always possible to transfer to everyone who needs it. 

To solve the problem, Gates calls the following ways: the creation of special “libraries” of drug compounds to test the effectiveness of existing treatments against new pathogens, research into the activation of innate immunity in humans, and investments in artificial intelligence technologies. 

Earlier it became known that Bill Gates will release a new book in which he will talk about ways to prevent a new pandemic, as well as what it is like to become the object of conspiracy theories.