European pharma seeks solution for COVID-19 vaccine risks

The pressure for governments, regulatory agencies and drugmakers to come up with medicines to mitigate or end the coronavirus epidemic is intense, as has been seen on numerous occasions this month alone.

Russia has approved a vaccine despite a complete lack of Phase III data and the US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn has been criticised for his comments around the emergency approval of convalescent plasma as a treatment, to name but two.

Now the actions of a trade group representing pharma companies seeking to develop a vaccine for Europe have brought a new issue to the fore – how to deal with the fall-out if a hastily approved product has an adverse impact on patients.