key: cord-0745951-impeeolp
authors: Molimard, Mathieu; Richard, Vincent; Cracowski, Jean-Luc
title: COVID-19: Pharmacology has kept the science ship running during the storm
date: 2021-05-28
journal: Therapie
DOI: 10.1016/j.therap.2021.05.009
sha: ecaabd2eac1d0d6a910546415b60fd3801f6777c
doc_id: 745951
cord_uid: impeeolp

nan

By the end of 2019, the world discovered the new epidemic that would quickly become the most serious pandemic of the last hundred years. In just a few weeks, the identification of the pathogenic virus, its sequencing and the dissemination of diagnostic tools in virology laboratories throughout the world made it possible to diagnose the first cases in France in January. Very quickly, numerous therapeutic proposals with little pharmacological basis were put forward as a universal remedy for the "easiest to treat infectious respiratory disease ever ".

Aware that misinformation was going to find a favourable soil for its propagation in the phenomenal success with more than one million visits, due to its seriousness and constantly updated information.

While antiviral repositioning therapies have been disappointing, we were hoping for vaccines that could have provided at least 50% protection. The surprise was the extraordinary effectiveness of mRNA vaccines that were developed in record time in the context of a pandemic and massive investment.

In this issue, Dominique Deplanque and Odile Launay describe how in less than one year, while respecting usual clinical development rules, several vaccines have been put on the market and mass vaccination campaigns have been deployed with an overall efficacy between 70 and 95% in phase III trials and excellent efficiency in real life [2] . C Lacroix et al., on behalf of the French Network of Pharmacovigilance Centers, present the main highlights of the first weeks of pharmacovigilance monitoring of COVID-19 vaccines which, through its incredible mobilization ,was able to provide a real-time safety analysis of COVID-19 vaccines [3] . Antoine Pariente and Julien Bezin explain how the performances of pharmacovigilance monitoring for the early detection of safety signals needs to be completed with pharmacoepidemiology studies for more common events. An important near-real time pharmacoepidemiological plan has been developed for all COVID-19 vaccines in Europe to provide with some results as early as possible [4] . Finally, Jean-Louis Montastruc et al. emphasized the relationships between vaccine and society in a social pharmacology approach [5] .

As this issue of Therapies shows, the past year has reminded us that pharmacology and drug development is a science. As such, we must continue to work methodically to make effective drugs and especially vaccines exhibiting an excellent and quantifiable benefit/risk balance, , available to save lives. The populist temptation to rush unproven drugs has held back research without saving a single life. Speed is the opposite of precipitation. Let's get back to science.

Authors have no competing interest to declare

Société française de pharmacologie et de thérapeutique (SFPT)

Efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines: from clinical trials to real life

French organization for the Pharmacovigilance of COVID-19 vaccines: a major challenge

Evaluation of Covid-19 vaccines: pharmacoepidemiological aspects

Covid-19 vaccines: a perspective from social pharmacology