Pharma companies plan joint pledge on vaccine safety

A group of drug companies competing with one another to be among the first to develop coronavirus vaccines are planning to pledge early next week that they will not release any vaccines that do not follow rigorous efficacy and safety standards, according to representatives of three of the companies.

The statement, which has not yet been finalised, is meant to reassure the public that the companies will not seek a premature approval of vaccines under political pressure from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump has pushed for a vaccine to be available by October — just before the presidential election — and a growing number of scientists, regulators and public health experts have expressed concern over what they see as a pattern of political arm-twisting by the Trump administration.

The companies’ joint statement was planned for early next week, but it may be released before then after its existence was made public Friday by The Wall Street Journal. The manufacturers that are said to have signed the letter include Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi.

Senior regulators at the Food and Drug Administration have been discussing making their own joint public statement about the need to rely on proven science, according to two senior administration officials, a move that would breach their usual reticence as civil servants.

Scientists have been rushing to develop a vaccine that could end the pandemic. Three companies — Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca — are testing their candidates in late-stage clinical trials. Pfizer’s chief executive said this week that the company could see results as early as October, but the others have said only that they plan to release a vaccine by the end of the year.

Public health experts have applauded the companies’ rapid development of a vaccine, and early results have been promising. But in recent weeks, they have grown worried as Trump and his allies have begun talking about a vaccine that could be ready before the election on Nov 3.

In tweets and public comments, Trump has explicitly tied his reelection fortunes to a vaccine. Trump campaign advisers have privately called a preelection vaccine “the holy grail.”

On Friday, Trump said one would “probably” be ready in October. Just the day before, Dr Moncef Slaoui, the top scientist on the administration’s vaccine program, warned that the chance of successful results by October was “very, very low.”

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