Covid-19: EMA could approve a Pfizer vaccine targeting Omicron subvariants


Europe 1 with AFP
modified to

4:16 p.m., August 10, 2022

The European Medicines Agency declared on Wednesday its desire to approve an anti-Covid vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech, which would target the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lines, as early as the fall. These have been fueling cases in Europe and the United States for several months. Pfizer’s requests were made in late July for these vaccines.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Wednesday it was aiming to approve a Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine as early as the fall targeting two subvariants of the rapidly spreading Omicron strain. Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sublines are fueling a spike in Covid-19 cases in Europe and the United States, prompting the WHO to declare last month that the pandemic was “far from ‘be over’.

“Potential rapid approval in the fall”

The European regulator said it launched a review on Monday of an adapted version of Pfizer’s anti-Covid serum targeting these two subvariants, which are more easily transmitted and which evade the immune system more easily than earlier strains. “The EMA expects to receive an application for the adapted vaccine BA.4/5 developed by Pfizer /BioNTech, which will be evaluated for potential rapid approval in the fall,” said an EMA spokesperson. in an email.

It should come “shortly after” the expected approval of two more tailored vaccines by Pfizer and rival Moderna, which target the original Covid-19 strain and Omicron’s earlier BA.1 subvariant, the gatekeeper said. -word. Pfizer and Moderna had filed separate approval applications for those vaccines on July 22, the spokesperson said. The EMA has previously said that the first sera targeting Omicron could be approved as early as September.



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