Covid-19: Pharma companies promise not to bow to political pressure to rush vaccine production

The chief executive officers (CEOs) of nine drug companies working towards a covid-19 vaccine have issued a joint statement promising to “only submit [a vaccine] for approval or emergency use authorisation after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study.”

“We pledge to always make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals our top priority,” wrote the CEOs of AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer, and Sanofi on 8 September in a statement entitled Biopharma Leaders Stand With Science.1

The statement follows an open letter by seven drug industry CEOs last week urging that “political considerations should be put aside” in covid-19 drug and vaccine development and that clinical data should be …