The World Health Organization said it was important to establish speedy regulatory pathways, although all the vaccines remained in early-stage development and licensed products would take “a few years” to reach the market.
“The agency is encouraging medicines developers to contact EMA if they have any promising projects in this area. EMA will also proactively reach out to companies already planning to work on investigational vaccines and offer scientific and regulatory advice,” it said in a statement.
President Barack Obama will also ask the U.S. Congress for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight the virus, the White House said.
Several biotech and pharmaceutical companies are racing to develop a Zika vaccine, including France’s Sanofi, which already has vaccine for dengue.
The WHO said diagnostics were “a top urgency”. It issued a call to interested companies on Feb. 5 to submit potential products for emergency quality assessment, so that successful tests could be put to use quickly.