LONDON - EMA Director General Guido Rasi has hit out at the lack of coordination in COVID-19 clinical trials, questioning if the huge number of small studies that are running will support regulatory decision-making.
LONDON – Geopolitical tensions over the issue of access to COVID-19 vaccines intensified this week, after the CEO of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi SA said the U.S. government would get first access to its product because it was first to fund the research.
DUBLIN – The EMA has activated a COVID-19 task force to coordinate and accelerate the European regulatory response to the pandemic. The task force is intended to take a lead role in shaping the development, authorization and post-approval surveillance of drugs and vaccines for treating or preventing COVID-19 infection.
DUBLIN – Novartis AG, Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and Sanofi SA were among firms that secured positive opinions from EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) on marketing authorization applications for new therapies, which will progress to formal approvals 67 days from now. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee’s March meeting was held virtually.
DUBLIN – The EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) diverged from the FDA on a key decision at its monthly meeting, which concluded Feb. 28. It refused to back an application from Eli Lilly and Co. for a line extension to its migraine prevention drug, Emgality (galcanezumab), which would have authorized the drug for preventing attacks during an episode of cluster headaches.
LONDON – Brexit finally becomes a reality at midnight central European time on Jan. 31, but for the life sciences industry uncertainty continues, as the U.K. enters an 11-month transition phase during which the terms of its future relationship with the EU must be negotiated.
LONDON – Following 3.5 years of uncertainty, the U.K. will be leaving the EU at 11 pm Jan. 31, after the newly elected Conservative government finally got the withdrawal agreement bill voted through Parliament Dec. 20, by a majority of 124.
LONDON – Over the next decade pharmacovigilance will move on from a sole focus on adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to encompass monitoring of the in-market efficacy of medicines, according to Guido Rasi, executive director of EMA.
LONDON – “Innovation only matters if patients benefit.” So said Guido Rasi, executive director of the EMA, as the agency embarks on the next phase of updating its regulatory science, both to tap into a torrent of new technologies and to ensure drug development generates evidence to demonstrate cost effectiveness and speed up access.
DUBLIN – Friday marked an important milestone for the EMA as its settles into its new home in Amsterdam. The Dutch authorities formally handed over to the agency the keys to its new building, which is located in the Zuidas district of the city.
