BRUSSELS, Dec 2 — Pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as their competitor Moderna, have filed applications for approval of their Covid-19 vaccines, reports Xinhua news agency according to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Tuesday.
The firms seek "conditional marketing authorisation" for their vaccines. The authorisation will be granted after the agency finds the submitted data robust enough to guarantee quality, safety and effectiveness.
The EMA said in separate statements that the application submitted by the United States company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech will be evaluated at a special committee meeting to be held before December 29, while that of Moderna Biotech Spain, a subsidiary of the US biotech firm Moderna, will be discussed on January 12 next year at the latest.
If the EMA makes a positive recommendation, the European Commission, on behalf of the European Union (EU), will fast-track its decision-making process with a view to granting a conditional marketing authorisation valid in all EU and EEA (European Economic Area) member states within days, according to a Commission spokesman.
As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, countries including France, Germany, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US are racing to find a vaccine.
According to the website of the World Health Organisation, as of Nov 26, there were 213 Covid-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 49 of them were in clinical trials.
— Bernama
