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).
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: Epigenomics out in Medicare NCD for CRC screening; TGA tweaks registration process for class I goods; Global initiative to take on Alzheimer’s; More on EMA cyberattack.
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.
At its October meeting, the EMA’s Committee for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) voted in favor of 11 new therapies, two of them for treating cancers and two for treating HIV-1. The European Commission will review the recommendations and make its decisions by the end of 2020.
Chinese biosimilar maker Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. won EMA approval for its Zercepac, a biosimilar to Roche Holding AG’s Herceptin (trastuzumab) on July 28. Henlius CEO Scott Liu told BioWorld that Zercepac will be the first Chinese monoclonal antibody biosimilar to enter the EU market, setting a precedent for Chinese drugmakers seeking to join the global race in biosimilars.
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