The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation would make a $35 million equity investment in privately owned Exscientia Ltd to fund the development of antiviral drugs including for the coronavirus, the Oxford-based drug developer has said.

Exscientia will make a matching contribution and lead the development of up to five therapeutics, which are ready to enter human trials. The programme will initially focus on agents against the Sars-CoV-2 and its variants as well as other coronaviruses, Reuters reported.

Exscientia said it is developing small molecule drugs that target proteins within cells, unlike existing drugs for Covid-19 that target proteins of the virus that are on cell surface and more likely to mutate.

“The small molecule drug that we develop will last and can potentially be stockpiled for the next pandemic and be distributed widely and easily amongst populations that are facing a new virus, or an existing new variant,” Denise Barrault, director of Exscientia's portfolio management, said.