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Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccine candidates may get EU approval in December

Last updated: 10:17 20 Nov 2020 EST, First published: 07:23 20 Nov 2020 EST

Pfizer - Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccine candidates may get EU approval in December

The EU could approve the COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) and Moderna Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) as early as December.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is in daily discussion with its US counterpart Food and Drug Administration to "synchronise their evaluations of vaccines", AFP reported.

READ: Pfizer now says COVID-19 vaccine is 95% effective and can be ready in days

“If all the procedures go smoothly, the EMA could give the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines their conditional marketing authorisation as early as the second half of December,” von der Leyen said.

She also expressed caution regarding the potential use of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, which first needs to gain EMA approval.

Meanwhile on Friday, Pfizer and BioNTech have submitted an application to the US authorities for emergency approval.

Ugur Sahin, the director of BioNTech, said on Thursday there is the possibility that the jab will be distributed in the EU and US before 2021.

The EU has pre-ordered COVID-19 vaccines with Pfizer/BioNTech, AsraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN), CureVac (NASDAQ:CVAC), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and the Sanofi/ GlaxoSmithKline PLC (LON:GSK).

According to Reuters reports, the bloc could pay over £7.5bn to secure hundreds of millions of doses of the Pfizer and CureVac candidates.

The former priced its jab at €15.50 (£13.86) per dose, bringing the cost of 200mln inoculations to £2.7bn.

The CureVac formulation would be cheaper, at €10 (£8.90) per dose, which is a discount from the €12 price the company had initially set.

The deal entails the supply of up to 405mln doses, of which 180mln are optional, but it is not clear whether they would also be discounted.

The German company has committed to begin deliveries by the end of March.

--Adds Pfizer submission--

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