Major pharma companies rejected a 2017 EU proposal that could let vaccines for viruses like the coronavirus be developed before an outbreak

Carl Recine/Reuters

• A 2017 proposal that would speed up vaccine production in the EU was blocked by major pharmaceutical companies, The Guardian reported.
• The proposal would fund improvements to testing, potentially allowing approval to be fast-tracked and for vaccines against viruses like the novel coronavirus to be developed before an outbreak begins.
• But it was rejected by the pharmaceutical companies on the IMI, a body dedicated to improving the EU's pharmaceutical research.
• Representatives of a group that includes GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson are part of that body, The Guardian reported.
• The IMI rejected the claim that it has focused on other illnesses to the detriment of the coronavirus, pointing to investments it has made in vaccines and in light of the Ebola outbreak.
• Companies are now rushing to try and create an effective vaccine to tackle the pandemic.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The world's biggest pharmaceutical companies blocked a 2017 EU proposal that could allow vaccines against viruses like the novel coronavirus to be developed before an outbreak begins, The Guardian reported.

Representatives of the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, who sat on a body dedicated to improving the bloc's pharmaceutical research put forward the proposal that could help fast-track vaccines, but the major drugmakers on the body rejected it.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: How the Navy's largest hospital ship can help with the coronavirus

See Also:

• China reported no new coronavirus cases while Latin America becomes a new hotspot
• The untold story of Moderna as the biotech's coronavirus vaccine faces a test that could make it one of the most consequential startups of all time
• Rashes, lethargy, and the terror of the unknown: What it's like to survive Kawasaki disease, the rare childhood illness that scientists are scrambling to understand in the coronavirus crisis

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/3gihFzj