On March 30th 2020, a request was raised by the Austrian Ministry of Health (BMASGK) and further Austrian policy stakeholder to set up a Horizon Scanning System (HSS) for medicines and vaccines. The establishment of a HSS/ Horizon Scanning System for Covid-19 interventions has the intentions of

a. informing health policy makers at an early stage which interventions (vaccinations and drugs) are currently undergoing clinical trials and

b. monitoring them over the next few months in order to support evidence-based purchasing, if necessary.

To respond to this request,

1. As a first step an inventory, based on international sources, is built.
2. As a second step, selective searches by means of searches in study registries are carried out for information on clinical studies in humans and the state of research.
3. This information forms the basis for "vignettes" (short descriptions) for those products that are already at an "advanced" stage.
4. Subsequently, the products are monitored with regard to the status of the clinical studies up to approval and finally evaluated for their benefit and harm.
All work steps are conducted in close international (European) cooperation.