BRUSSELS, May 6 (Reuters) - The European Commission wants to
speed up the approval in the European Union of experimental
COVID-19 drugs, according to a document released by the EU
executive on Thursday, with the aim of having at least three new
medicines authorised by October.
The Commission also said it will draw up a portfolio of 10
potential COVID-19 therapeutics and will identify the five most
promising ones by June, hoping to launch joint procurements on
behalf of EU governments by the end of the year.
The Commission did not clarify on Thursday which drugs it
could select for possible supply contracts, but other recent EU
documents show that the EU executive has already been in talks
with drug makers developing monoclonal antibodies for possible
procurement.
The only COVID-19 drug so far approved in the EU, and bought
in a joint procurement, is Gilead's remdesivir, which
the World Health Organization has said is not effective on
severely ill COVID-19 patients.
"We need a strong push on treatments to limit the need for
hospitalisation, speed up recovery times, and reduce mortality,"
said Stella Kyriakides, the EU commissioner for health, noting
that the new drugs should also help cure "long COVID", a series
of symptoms that affect COVID patients for months after the
infection is gone.
The EU executive plans to invest more in clinical trials and
research to speed up drugs' approvals, which are in theory the
prerogative of the independent European Medicines Agency (EMA).
EMA has issued scientific advice on 57 COVID-19 therapeutics
in development, including small molecules and monoclonal
antibodies, antivirals and immunomodulators. Three treatments
are currently being assessed under rolling reviews of available
data, including Eli Lilly's antibodies bamlanivimab and
etesevimab.
To increase access to drugs, the EU wants to invest more to
boost production. It also plans to facilitate partnerships among
pharmaceutical companies to quickly address possible bottlenecks
in the supply chain.
(Reporting by Marine Strauss @StraussMarine and Francesco
Guarascio; editing by Robin Emmott)