The Impact of COVID‐19 on Pregnancy and Therapeutic Drug Development

Abstract

Emerging data shows pregnant women with COVID‐19 are at significantly higher risk of severe outcomes compared to non‐pregnant women of similar age. This review discusses the invaluable insight revealed from vaccine clinical trials in women who were vaccinated and inadvertently became pregnant during the trial period. It further explores a number of clinical avenues in their management and proposes a drug development strategy in‐line with clinical trials for vaccines and drug treatments for the drug development community. Little is known of the long‐term effects of COVID‐19 on the mother and the baby. Our hypothesis that COVID‐19 predisposes pregnant women to preeclampsia or hypertensive disorders during pregnancy is supported by a clinical study and this may also adversely impact a woman’s cardiovascular disease risk later in life. It may also increase the risk of preeclampsia in their subsequent pregnancy. This is an ever‐evolving landscape and early knowledge for healthcare providers and drug innovators is offered to ensure benefits outweigh the risks. COVID‐19 mRNA vaccines appear to generate robust humoral immunity in pregnant and lactating women. This novel approach to vaccination also offers new ways to therapeutically tackle disorders of many unmet medical needs.