US Pharmaceuticals Want To Away Fear Of ‘Hasty’ Vaccine | NOW

A group of American pharmaceutical companies may issue a joint statement this week not to request regulatory approval for a corona vaccine until this vaccine is completely safe to use. The industry hopes to allay fears in people that a possible vaccine would have been hastily developed, reports The Wall Street Journal Saturday.

Normally it takes several years to develop a safe vaccine. A corona vaccine would now be developed, tested and ready for distribution in about nine months.

Signatories include major pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna. The Wall Street Journal was allowed to view a draft statement. It is unusual for pharmaceutical companies to come up with such a statement themselves.

The signatories say in the statement that they prioritize the health and safety of the vaccinees. They also promise not to make a vaccine available hastily under political pressure. Due to the corona crisis, it has become possible for American pharmaceutical companies to obtain accelerated consent.

The companies do not want to apply for a license for their corona vaccine until enough evidence has been gathered about its safety and efficacy after the clinical trials in the third and final phase. In this phase, the vaccine is tested with a control group in which (a significant number of) participants receive a placebo.

The FDA previously stated that it would only give permission for a corona vaccine if it is at least 50 percent effective.

Scientists concerned about political pressure

Many scientists and experts are concerned that pharmaceutical companies are rushing to develop and distribute a corona vaccine under pressure from political policymakers. The US health agency CDC said earlier this week that states should prepare to distribute vaccines from November. The FDA said this could potentially be as early as the end of October.

Experts suspect this planning is a political stunt to propel a possible reelection of US President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 presidential election. The US government has set a target of having some 300 million corona vaccines available by January 2021.

A number of US pharmaceutical companies are already conducting large-scale clinical trials. The results of those tests may become available in the coming months.

Tests with a potential vaccine are also currently taking place at an EU level. In the Netherlands, the Leiden company Janssen Vaccines has started clinical tests. Worldwide, there are about two hundred pharmaceutical companies in the race for a corona vaccine.

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