The European Commission presented potential anti-coid drugs – SME.sk

BRUSSELS. In Monday’s package of reports, the European Commission recalled that at the end of last week, as part of the EU’s strategy for the treatment of disease COVID-19 compiled a portfolio of 10 potential anti-COVID-19 drugs.

The list is based on independent scientific advice and focuses on potential COVID-19 medicines that are likely to be approved and could therefore soon be available on the European market.

These medicines will provide patients across the EU with the fastest possible treatment, provided that their safety and effectiveness are confirmed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The goal is five approved drugs by the end of the year

The Commission recalled that vaccination against COVID-19 provides the best prevention against infection, serious illness, death and the long-term consequences of this disease, but there is an effort to provide drugs against COVID-19 to treat those who are already infected.

In this context, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakidis clarified that patients with COVID-19 need safe and effective treatment and improved prospects for rapid recovery.

Related article

Related article Merck has asked the European Medicines Agency for approval of a covid pill Read

“At the same time, we need to reduce the number of hospitalizations and, most importantly, prevent deaths. We have already signed four joint procurement agreements for various medicines against COVID-19 and are ready to negotiate more. We aim to approve at least three medicines in the coming weeks and “and we want the Member States to get to them as soon as possible,” she said.

Three categories of treatment

A group of independent scientific experts examined 82 potential drugs in an advanced stage of clinical development and identified 10 of them as the most promising for the EU portfolio of anti-COVID-19 drugs.

The list of ten medicines is divided into three treatment categories and will be further developed on the basis of new scientific evidence:

Antiviral monoclonal antibodies that are most effective in the early stages of infection: ronapreve (combination of monoclonal antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Roche); xevudy (sotrovimab) from Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline and evusheld (combination of monoclonal antibodies tixagevimab and cilgavimab from AstraZeneca).

Oral antivirals for use as soon as possible after infection: molnupiravir from Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and MSD; PF-07321332 from Pfizer and AT-527 from Atea Pharmaceuticals and Roche.

Immunomodulators for the treatment of hospitalized patients: actemra (tocilizumab) from Roche Holding; kineret (anakinra) from Swedish Orphan Biovitrum; olumiant (baricitinib) from Eli Lilly and lenzilumab from Humanigen.

Six of the selected medicines are already subject to ongoing review or application to the EMA. They could soon be authorized provided that the final data demonstrate their quality, safety and efficacy.

The other four medicines on the list have received scientific advice from the EMA and further ongoing reviews may be initiated after sufficient clinical data have been collected.

The selection of 10 potential medicines is independent of and does not replace the scientific evaluation by the European Medicines Agency and the approval of medicines by the European Commission.

The selected product cannot be approved if the available scientific evidence does not meet the regulatory requirements.