Understanding Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)

By Veeranna Lolla, RAC, Head of Regulatory Affairs at Pharmaceutics International, Inc (Pii)

COVID-19 has spawned a new vocabulary that includes words like social distancing and zoom meetings. Given the impact of COVID-19 on our lives and our great desire for solutions, public interest in pandemics, mRNA, and vaccine development has been unprecedented.

One of the terms that became part of daily news briefings as drug developers drew closer to an effective vaccine was Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). This is a term we don’t often use, to include those of us who work in the pharmaceutical industry, thankfully, because it is indicative of a public health crisis.

But what exactly is EUA, when is it used, and how does the public health community, FDA, and drug developers authorize emergency use of drugs or other medical products?