EU agency assessing COVID vaccines hit by cyberattack
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The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has launched an investigation after being hit by a cyberattack, the agency said in a brief statement.
“EMA has been the subject of a cyberattack. The agency has swiftly launched a full investigation, in close cooperation with law enforcement and other relevant entities,” the agency said.
The EMA added that it “cannot provide additional details whilst the investigation is ongoing,” but said further information would be released “in due course.”
The agency, which is the EU’s regulator of medications, did not provide details about what was targeted or when the attack took place.
Just after the announcement, however, German pharmaceutical firm BioNTech and US pharma giant Pfizer said some documents on their jointly-developed vaccine were accessed during the cyberattack.
In the joint statement, the companies said the EMA told them that “some documents relating to the regulatory submission for Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate […] had been unlawfully accessed.”
The companies added that the hackers did not breach BioNTech or Pfizer systems, and that there was no evidence at this time to indicate that the personal data of study participants had been accessed.
Main Photo: An exterior view of the headquarters of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. EPA-EFE/REMKO DE WAAL
