The Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) has welcomed the donation of €125,000 made by the EIB via the EIB Institute to support research on the coronavirus.

The funds will go to the laboratory of Professor Marcin Drąg (Wrocław University of Technology) who has managed to identify the enzyme (protease) necessary for the coronavirus to multiply, the FNP explains in a press release. Blocking the action of this enzyme causes the virus to die. This is an extremely important discovery for the development of a quick diagnostic test and a cure for the coronavirus. Drąg’s team has already begun the search for the protease inhibitor among drugs already approved for other diseases.

As part of the EIB Group’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, the EIB Institute coordinated a donation of € 1 million, the largest ever made by the EIB Group.

Half of this donation is for helping well-known, not-for-profit EU research institutes in their research and development for a vaccine/treatment for COVID-19: Institut Pasteur, National Institute for Infectious Diseases, Lazzaro Spallanzani, Foundation for Polish Science  and Karolinska Institute.The other half was allocated to NGOs fighting the effects of the pandemic. Click here for more information.

So far, COVID-19 has struck more than 3 million people worldwide causing over 210 000 deaths.

Within the EIB Group the Institute is responsible for grants following humanitarian catastrophes.