The European Medicines Agency (EMA) published a progress report on Tuesday 31 March on the search for a treatment and/or vaccine against COVID-19, 3 months after Chinese authorities first reported cases on their territory. At this point, and as the chloroquine controversy rages, “no drug has yet been shown to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19”, notes the EMA.
In its press release, the agency states that its pandemic response team has been in contact with the developers of some 40 therapeutic medicines. Among the potential treatments currently undergoing clinical trials, it cites the following: remdesivir (experimental), lopinavir/ritonavir (currently approved as an anti-HIV medicine), chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine (currently approved nationally as treatments for malaria and certain autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis), systemic interferons and, in particular, interferon beta (currently approved for the treatment of diseases such as multiple sclerosis) as well as monoclonal antibodies that are active against components of the immune system.
With regard to vaccine development, the EMA says it has already spoken to the developers of a dozen potential vaccines. The agency reiterated that two vaccines have already entered clinical trials in healthy volunteers (phase 1). Contradicting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s forecast that the autumn 2020 deadline would be reached, the EU medicines agency said it “could take at least a year before a vaccine against COVID-19 is ready for approval and available in sufficient quantities for widespread use”. Therefore, the EMA recommends that Member States proactively anticipate their dose needs now. See the EMA document: https://bit.ly/2UWuQMG (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)