Coronavirus: Hackers steal Pfizer vaccine data in Europe
- US drug maker and German partner BioNTech say documents were ‘unlawfully accessed’ in cyberattack on agency that assesses and approves medicines
- Timeline for review of Covid-19 shot will not be affected by breach, companies say
US drug maker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said on Wednesday that documents related to their development of a Covid-19 vaccine had been “unlawfully accessed” in a cyberattack on Europe’s medicines regulator.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA), responsible for assessing and approving medicines and vaccines for the European Union, said hours earlier it had been targeted in a cyberattack. It gave no further details.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they did not believe any personal data of trial participants had been compromised and EMA “has assured us that the cyberattack will have no impact on the timeline for its review”.
It was not immediately clear when or how the attack took place, who was responsible or what other information may have been compromised.
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A spokeswoman for BioNTech declined further comment. Pfizer did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
The two companies said they had been informed by the EMA “that the agency has been subject to a cyberattack and that some documents relating to the regulatory submission for Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate … had been unlawfully accessed”.