Saturday, July 12, 2025
spot_img

Possible virus drug approval ‘before summer’: EU

Date:

Share post:

spot_imgspot_img

London: The European Medicines Agency predicted that there could be licensed drugs to treat the new coronavirus in the next few months and that a vaccine might even be approved in early 2021, in a best-case scenario.

Dr Marco Cavaleri, who heads the European regulator’s vaccines department, told a media briefing on Thursday that approving medicines to treat COVID-19 might be possible before the summer, citing ongoing clinical trials. Recent early results for the drug remdesivir suggested it could help patients recover from the coronavirus faster, although longer-term data is still needed to confirm any benefit.

Although it typically takes years to develop a vaccine, Cavaleri said that if some of the shots already being tested prove to be effective, they could be licensed as early as the beginning of next year.

Cavaleri cautioned, however, that many experimental vaccines never make it to the end and that there are often delays.

But we can see the possibility that if everything goes as planned, vaccines could be approved a year from now, he said.

More than 140 heads of states and health experts, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz issued an appeal Thursday calling on all countries to unite behind a people’s vaccine against COVID-19, to ensure any effective treatments and vaccines be available globally to anyone who needs them, for free.

At the moment, there are about a dozen vaccine candidates being tested in China, Britain, Germany and the U.S. The World Health Organization has estimated it could take about 12 to 18 months for an effective vaccine to be found.

While some experts have proposed dropping the requirement for large-scale advanced clinical trials altogether, Cavaleri said that wasn’t currently being considered.

Our current thinking is all vaccines under development should undergo large phase 3 trials to establish what is the level of protection, he said.

But he acknowledged that could change if the situation worsened, Cavaleri said. (AP)

spot_imgspot_img

Related articles

UK faces third, more extensive heatwave

London, July 12: The United Kingdom is bracing for its third heatwave of the year, with exceptionally hot...

Union Minister Jual Oram announces retirement from electoral politics

Sambalpur (Odisha), July 12:  In a major development for Odisha politics, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs and senior...

IIM-Calcutta rape case: Questions raised over campus security

Kolkata, July 12: Serious concerns have emerged over the security arrangements at the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C),...

16th Rozgar Mela: Nationwide joy as PM Modi distributes 51,000 appointment letters

New Delhi, July 12: A wave of jubilation swept across the country on Saturday as Prime Minister Narendra...