News FAMHP

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will organise a second public meeting on 8 January 2021 to inform European citizens about the assessment, approval and roll-out of new COVID-19 vaccines.

The European Commission granted a conditional marketing authorisation for Comirnaty, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The Commission is following the positive opinion of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued a positive opinion for Comirnaty, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, making it the first COVID-19 vaccine that could be authorised for marketing in the European Union. This opinion still has to be confirmed by the European Commission. Belgium purchased the vaccine and will use it immediately in its vaccination campaign.

Based on the evolution of the pilot project for the new Clinical Trial Regulation, the FAMHP made an update on the guidance document to assist clinical trials sponsors as part of the pilot project for clinical trials.

The FPS Public Health and the FAMHP would like to invite you to take part in the public consultation on a clinical trial testing the genetically modified drug Nous-PEV (formed by the experimental drugs GAd-PEV and MVA-PEV) for the treatment of certain lung and skin cancers. The public consultation will run from 10 November 2020 to 10 December 2020.

EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP), in which the FAMHP takes part, has started the first ‘rolling reviews’ of COVID-19 vaccines. The review concerns the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and the vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer.

Because of COVID-19, it is even more important to vaccinate at-risk groups, including older people, as widely as possible against seasonal flu. All people aged 50 years and older can get the flu vaccine in pharmacies without a prescription issued by the doctor (general practitioner).

In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the European Union adopted a regulation providing for a temporary derogation from European legislation on genetically modified organisms.

Sales of paracetamol remain stable, which is why the restriction of only one box per patient is being lifted. The quotas for pharmaceutical companies and wholesalers have already been abolished. Only the intravenous form remains subject to restriction.

A national guideline is available to complement European guidelines for the management of clinical trials during the coronavirus pandemic.