On December 9th, local time, American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German company BioNTech, a partner in the research and development of the coronavirus vaccine, said that some people illegally obtained data about its coronavirus vaccine in a cyber attack on European drug regulators.
The European Drug Administration (EMA), which evaluates drugs and vaccines for the European Union, said late on the 9th that it had been attacked by cyber attacks, including documents related to Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine development.
The report quoted experts as saying that the stolen documents are of great value to other countries and companies eager to develop vaccines.
Marc Rogers, founder of CTI-League, a volunteer organization that fights against coronavirus vaccine-related irregularities, said that documents submitted by vaccine companies to regulators usually include information about vaccines and their mechanism of action, efficiency, risks and known Possible side effects and confidential information such as handling guidelines.
In addition, the detailed information provided in the document on other aspects of vaccine supply and distribution also increases the risk of the document being stolen.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they believed that the personal data of the participants in the trial would not be leaked. In addition, EMA assured them that the cyberattack would not affect the review schedule of the vaccine.
According to The Paper’s previous report, as several major coronavirus vaccines around the world are successively or about to be approved for sale in various countries, some international criminal groups have targeted the vaccine supply chain in an attempt to profit from it.
It is not clear when or how the cyberattack occurred, who is responsible, and what other information may have been leaked.
The European Drug Administration only said that the incident was under investigation and could not provide more details.
