The European Medicines Agency said Wednesday it was the subject of a cyberattack, and a German biotech company stated that information about a coronavirus vaccine was illegally accessed as a result.
While the EMA provided few details about the cyberattack in a statement announcing it occurred, BioNTech separately announced it was told that documents related to the vaccine candidate were accessed.
News of the hack came the same day the Canadian government authorized the use of the vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, to help fight COVID-19, the contagious disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
“EMA has been the subject of a cyberattack,” it said in a statement. “The Agency has swiftly launched a full investigation, in close cooperation with law enforcement and other relevant entities.”
EMA said it would not provide further information about the incident while the investigation was ongoing, although BioNTech issued a statement relaying some of what it said it was told by the agency.
In a statement, BioNTech said it was notified 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, BNT162b2, which has been stored on an EMA server, had been unlawfully accessed.”
EMA assured BioNTech the attack would not impact the agency’s timeline for reviewing the vaccine candidate, the company added.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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