The U.S. drugmaker and German partner BioNTech SE said in a statement they had been told by the European Medicines Agency that some documents relating to the regulatory submission for their vaccine that had been stored on the EMA server had been unlawfully accessed.
The companies said that none of their systems had been breached in connection with the incident and that “we are unaware that any study participants have been identified through the data being accessed.” The companies said EMA informed them that the attack would have no effect on the timing of the vaccine review.The European Medicines Agency issued aWednesday saying that it had been attacked and had “swiftly launched a full investigation, in close cooperation with law enforcement and other relevant entities.” It declined further comment.
Since the pandemic began, hackers tied to Russia, China and North Korea have been accused of targeting companies working on Covid-19 research. In November, for instance, Microsoft Corp. said had targeted seven “prominent” companies working on vaccines and treatment research. Microsoft, which didn’t identify the companies, said the majority of the attacks were blocked.