A European Commission legislative proposal to change the EU’s rules on supplementary protection certificates and allow for the production of versions of patent-protected medicines for sale outside the EU has been welcomed by the generics and biosimilars industry – albeit with caveats – but criticized by the originator industry as an attack on intellectual property that could hit investment in Europe.

Ukraine has established a system for issuing emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines that recognizes authorizations granted by other world regulators.

The Russian backers of the vaccine’s development say that if it receives a marketing authorization in the EU, distribution could begin in June this year.