Vaccine makers pledge to play it safe with Covid-19

A group of nine top biopharma players pledged today to only seek regulatory approval for their Covid-19 vaccines when they’re proven safe and effective. It’s part of an effort to allay the public’s concerns about political influence in the Covid-19 vaccine development process.

The companies that are the furthest along in the process — Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer/BioNTech — made a commitment to “make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals our top priority,” adding that they would seek FDA sanction only “after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study.” Other signatories include top executives at Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, and Novavax.

Pharma is effectively drawing a line in the sand in terms of a Covid-19 timeline, as STAT’s Ed Silverman writes. Although President Trump has been pushing for a Covid-19 vaccine to ship in advance of the November election, drug makers aren’t interested in playing politics.