The European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) discussed on Wednesday 26 May the European strategy for the development and deployment of treatment solutions for Covid-19 in the European Union (see EUROPE 12714/11).
Their discussion was attended by the Head of the Public Health Unit in the European Commission’s Health Directorate-General, John Ryan.
The Commission’s approach was welcomed by MEPs. Many have emphasised the need for rapid development of these treatments, especially for those unable to receive the vaccine.
The EPP coordinator, Peter Liese, for example, emphasised cases involving children under 12 years of age.
He also recalled that, for minors aged 12-15 years, an initial application for vaccination authorisation had been submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) by the Pfizer/BioNTech group (see EUROPE 12710/21). The verdict on this matter is expected this Friday 28 May.
Transparency. With regard to the treatment strategy, several political groups also drew the attention of the Commission representative to the need for more transparency. Both in the development and procurement and deployment of future therapeutic solutions.
The coordinator of the Greens/EFA group, Michèle Rivasi (French), said that information on production sites, amounts and recipients of research money should be more accessible than has been the case with vaccines. The Member has not received any guarantees in this respect. There is also nothing on her question about the accessibility of clinical data.
Ms Rivasi also called for more transparency on medicine prices. “We cannot comment at this stage as we do not yet know which products will be approved”, said John Ryan.
All these demands were also put forward by some political groups earlier in the morning, during a debate on the Commission’s pharmaceutical strategy (see other news).
International solidarity. Questions have also been raised about the sharing of responsibility for side effects in the context of emergency marketing authorisations.
In addition, several MEPs asked Mr Ryan what measures the Commission could take to ensure access to future therapeutic solutions also in third countries.
“Will some of the pre-ordered medicines be subject to a reserve?”, Véronique Trillet-Lenoir (Renew Europe, France) asked.
“If we have advance purchase contracts, it will be much easier to allocate some of those purchases to third countries and use them for donations”, Ryan simply assured MEPs. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)