Bill Gates recently said he will spend billions to develop a vaccine to combat coronavirus.

The Microsoft co-founder told comedian Trevor Noah during an online interview he has already given money to seven drugmakers to build factories to create vaccines.

"Our foundation is trying to be as helpful in a very constructive way as possible," Gates told during an interview with Trevor Noah. "That's why I've talked to the head of pharmaceutical companies."

Gates will also give $20 million to three programs in the United States and United Kingdom to investigate how well current drugs on the market can treat coronavirus.

"We've also talked to a lot of behavioral agencies including CDC and NIH about how we work together on the vaccine and the drugs," Gates said.

The billionaire philanthropist said he has also spoken with officials from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health about how to speed up the process for important research.

"Our early money can accelerate things," Gates said. "Even though we'll end up picking at most two of them, we're going to fund factories for all seven," Gates said. "'[It's] so that we don't waste time in serially saying which vaccine works and then building the factory."

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