Pharmaceutical strategy of the European Commission important step to be more independent from China and to address future pandemics
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The European Commission published its pharmaceutical strategy today in Brussels. The strategy will contain many legislative and non-legislative actions for the future pharmaceutical policy, including a revision of basic pharmaceutical legislation and the specific regulation on orphan drugs and paediatrics. Due to the current pandemic, action to address this and future pandemics are of course in the focus of the debate.
The health spokesperson of the biggest political group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats) Peter Liese said: “The strategy is important to ensure that our pharmaceutical industry is competitive but moreover that all patients receive the necessary treatment at an affordable price. We need to do a lot for example to make anti-cancer drugs for children more available and affordable. The core of the current debate is how we can be less dependent from China and India when it comes to lifesaving pharmaceuticals. The crisis has shown that the problem that has existed before is getting bigger and bigger.
The next good news: Vaccine from Moderna also seems to be very effective
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Although it is an American company, the vaccine is also produced in Europe / EU has signed a preliminary agreement / Pfizer boss Bourla has to make a statement about his shares in order not to discredit the process / AstraZeneca results expected soon
"This is again very good news", commented MEP and health policy spokesman of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats) Dr. med Peter Liese on the news that the company Moderna has published results according to which its vaccine is even more effective than the vaccine from BioNTech/Pfizer. The company announced on Monday that they found a result of 94.5% in tests.
"As with BioNTech/Pfizer, this percentage still needs to be studied in detail and we will not have a vaccine until the European Medicines Agency has approved it. However, I expect this to happen in the next few weeks. The Moderna vaccine, although it is developed by an American company, will be partly produced in the EU and it is therefore good that the EU has already concluded preliminary contracts. I also expect the vaccine from the Swedish-British consortium AstraZeneca to be launched on the market in the next few weeks. I expect the results of the research to be published daily. Then we would have three vaccines to choose from already this year and we could start vaccinating risk groups and medical staff in January. All this shows that the EU is on the right track with the support of the companies and the preliminary contracts", Liese said.
Read more: The next good news: Vaccine from Moderna also seems to be very effective
Third vaccine candidate with high efficacy
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Several approvals possible before the end of the year / AstraZeneca uses well-known technology / Pandemic will lose its horror in spring and may be over in the EU by summer, even more reason to hold out now
The University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca have just presented the results of the efficacy of their corona vaccine candidate. "This is another piece of very good news. The interim results of the studies give us hope that three vaccines will be available very quickly, perhaps as early as this year," said MEP Peter Liese, health policy spokesperson of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats).
“The efficacy seems to be lower than with Biontech/Pfizer and Moderna but the vaccine still has advantages. AstraZeneca uses a well-known technology, namely a so-called vector vaccine. Here a harmless virus is modified so that it contains parts of the corona virus and thus provokes a vaccination reaction. Although I have great confidence in the projects of BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna, it is nevertheless good that we also have a vaccine candidate that uses a different technique. It may be that the AstraZeneca vaccine is more suitable for certain groups of people and it would certainly be an alternative for people who do not accept the novel m-RNA vaccines. Another advantage is that the vaccine is significantly cheaper than BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna," said the doctor and MEP.
European Commission presents Lesson learned package
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Right and important proposals to better fight future cross-border health threats like Covid-19 together / We need a real Health Union
The European Commission has today presented its so-called Lessons learned package to better tackle cross-border health threats such as Covid-19 together in the future. MEP and health policy spokesman of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP-Christian Democrats), Dr. med. Peter Liese, expressly welcomed the proposals. "The past months have shown us that we can and must work much better together on health threats. We need a genuine European Health Union, as my group and the European Parliament called for back in the summer. The proposals are an important first step in this direction", Liese said.
The package includes a proposal for a new regulation on cross-border health threats to replace the existing directive and the possibility of declaring an EU health emergency. "This is really necessary. We relied too much on the WHO for the Covid 19 pandemic. While I greatly appreciate the work of the WHO, it must unfortunately be recognised that the WHO has also made mistakes during the pandemic. In my opinion, under pressure from China, the WHO declared the health emergency too late. It is therefore very important to have the possibility to act at European level in future similar situations", said the doctor and MEP.
Read more: European Commission presents Lesson learned package