Infectious disease therapies have been awarded the highest number of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants over the last 20 years, according to GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Intelligence Center’s deals database. The Covid-19 pandemic shed light on the importance of funding for drug development in this crucial therapy area. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programmes encourage innovation and technological development from small businesses with a focus on commercialisation. These programmes allocate hundreds of grants each year for infectious disease commercialisation, especially at crucial early stages of development.