AbbVie, eyeing shift to endemic, adds to COVID-19 work with Scripps partnership

AbbVie is adding to its COVID-19 work in the hopes of developing new antivirals that can aid the shift from pandemic to endemic.

The Chicago-area Big Pharma is dishing out an undisclosed amount to gain access to nonprofit Scripps Research's SARS-CoV-2 program so the duo can work on new direct-acting antivirals for COVID-19. The global collaboration comes as many states and cities around the U.S. have put mask mandates to the wayside and biotechs shut down programs centered on the pandemic disease.