Swissmedic said the United States pharmaceutical company Pfizer submitted an application for the authorisation of a vaccine which is based on the mRNA technology last week.
The agency added it is fast-tracking all applications connected with the Covid-19 pandemic, assigning extra staff to this task so that content checks and, in particular, user safety are not compromised.
The criteria for reviewing safety, efficacy and quality remain unchanged, according to Claus Bolte, head of Swissmedic’s authorisation division.
“The data packages for the vaccine candidates will be reviewed just as comprehensively, but faster. As a result, we can shorten the waiting times between the development stages during the review,” Bolte said in a statementExternal link published on Monday.
Two weeks ago, the Swiss authorities started assessing an application for a vaccine developed by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
Switzerland has also signed a deal with US biotech firm Moderna to secure early access to 4.5 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine.
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Covid cure further away than hoped, says Novartis chief
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Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis has rowed back on earlier predictions that a drug to combat coronavirus could be on the horizon.
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