BRUSSELS, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Europe's drugs watchdog said on Thursday it expects to receive the first application for conditional marketing approval for a COVID-19 vaccine "in the coming days", the latest step towards making a shot available outside the United States.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) did not name the company it expects to file the application, but Pfizer Inc and BioNTEch are the most advanced in the regulatory process among the three companies that have published late-stage trial data for their vaccines.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels; Writing by Josephine Mason in London Editing by David Goodman)