It is a matter of time before other vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are licensed, as well as therapeutic approaches for the prevention of COVID-19, said to KYPE the Deputy Director of Pharmaceutical Services of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Elena Panagiotopoulou, who stated that Cyprus participates in the immediate procurement procedures and as soon as they are licensed will receive them immediately.
According to Ms. Panagiotopoulou, there is intense mobility in terms of vaccines, but also in therapeutic approaches, noting that “we are close to licensing vaccines” and it is expected that their supplies will begin soon.
The Valneva vaccine in December
Invited by KYPE to refer to the licensing of the approaching vaccines, Dr. Panagiotopoulou said the Valneva vaccine is expected to be licensed in December 2021, noting that the drug is based on an inactivated, adjuvant vector of the virus, a more traditional form of mRNA vaccine or adenovirus vaccine.
It is noted that a similar technology is used in the Chinese vaccines of the companies Sinopharm and Sinovac.
On October 31 the evaluation for the pill by MSD
He also referred to the MSD coronavirus pill, which is being evaluated on October 31. As Dr. Panagiotopoulou “this is an antiviral preparation, which is expected to have an impact”.
In addition, it stated that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had begun evaluating an application for an extension of the use of the BioNTech / Pfizer COirid-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, to children aged 5 to 11 years, and noted that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use EMA (CHMP) started a rolling review of Evusheld (also known as AZD7442), a combination of two monoclonal antibodies (tixagevimab and cilgavimab), developed by AstraZeneca AB, for the prevention of COVID-19 in adults.
He further added that EMA had terminated the rolling review of CVnCoV, CureVac AG's COVID-19 vaccine, after informing the Agency of its withdrawal from the process.
In addition, Ms. Panayotopoulou said that the EMA began evaluating a marketing authorization application for the combination of Ronapreve monoclonal antibodies (casirivimab / imdevimab), explaining that Ronapreve, co-developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Roche Registration GmbH, is intended for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults and adolescents 12 years of age and older who do not require adjunctive oxygen therapy and who are at increased risk of developing severe COVID-19 prevention of COVID-19 in adults and adolescents 12 years of age and older.
Cyprus participates in direct procurement procedures
Answering a relevant question, Ms. Panagiotopoulou said that there is “intense mobility both in terms of vaccines, but also in therapeutic approaches”, to note that Cyprus participates in direct procurement procedures and as soon as they are licensed and supplied to We will have Europe too “.
He assured that Cyprus is not deprived of timely supply, like other countries, explaining that “we participate in the process of direct supply of both vaccines and medicines licensed by Coreper”.
Source: KYPE
