The EMA issued a guidance Feb. 25 outlining the requirements for manufacturers planning to modify COVID-19 vaccines to address emerging variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Governments across the globe are struggling to keep pace with the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s impact on public health, but the new variants are presenting their own challenges. The next task facing governments across the globe is to sequence the latest mutated variants of the virus and keep track of any further mutations, all while validating new and revamped existing tests, a task that is likely to prove difficult to meet for at least the next few months.
LONDON – The EMA has requested all COVID-19 vaccine developers to investigate if their products offer protection against new variants of SARS-CoV-2 and to submit the relevant data.
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DUBLIN – Amid a bitter dispute between the European Commission (EC) and Astrazeneca plc over supplies of the latter’s SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, the EC’s drug regulator, the EMA, recommended approval of the product in question, COVID-19 Vaccine Astrazeneca (formerly AZD-1222).
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LONDON – The EMA has recommended approval of Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the fourth western regulator to do so, after Israel approved the product on Jan. 5 and the FDA and Health Canada in December.
LONDON – The life sciences industry exhaled sharply and prepared to labor over the fine print in 1,246 pages of text after the EU and U.K. reported they had agreed a post-Brexit trade deal on Christmas Eve. The U.K. has said it will take a light touch, at least initially, with implementation of new border controls taking place in three stages up to July 30, 2021. The EU has not said what its approach will be.
DUBLIN – Bowing to public and political pressure, the EMA has brought forward its review of BNT-162b2, the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer Inc. and Biontech SE, to Dec. 21, more than a week ahead of its originally scheduled date of Dec. 29.