(adds treatments under rolling review)
BRUSSELS, May 6 (Reuters) - The European Commission wants to
speed up EU approval 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 would 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 in the documents released 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 is Gilead's
remdesivir, which the EU bought with a joint
procurement just before the World Health Organization said it
was not effective on severely ill COVID-19 patients
.
Stella Kyriakides, the EU commissioner for health, said the
new drugs should also help cure "long COVID", a series of
symptoms that affect COVID patients for months after the
infection has gone.
The EU executive plans to invest more in clinical trials and
research to speed up drug approvals, which are in theory the
prerogative of the independent European Medicines Agency (EMA).
The 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, and a combination of
antibodies being developed by Regeneron and Roche
.
Kyriakides told a news conference that a contract was being
signed with Roche on monoclonal antibodies for the possible
supply of nearly 40 European countries, including Britain.
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 and Nick Macfie)