EMA Updates Activities

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has appointed Grzegorz Cessak as vice-chair of its management for the next three years.   Cessak has been president of Poland’s Office for registration of Medicinal Products, Medical Devices and Biocidal Products since July 2009, and a member of EMA’s Management Board since January 2010. He steps into the role that was vacated by Christa Wirthumer-Hoche following her election as chair in March 2016.   In other news, the agency provided an update on its program to support the development of promising medicines addressing unmet medical needs (PRIME). A total of 48 applications were received between its launch on March 7, 2016 and the end of June, and about another 70 applications have been submitted since mid-2016. Overall, the number of new applications for marketing authorization received in the first half of 2016 was comparable to that received during the same period in 2015 (42 in the first half 2016 vs. 45 in the first half 2015).   EMA also said it is developing a multilingual European medicines web portal that will aim to provide access to free, reliable, and unbiased information for patients, consumers, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and academics on all medicines authorized in the European Union (EU). The site will provide details about a medicine across its lifecycle, from clinical trials to adverse drug reaction reports.   Read the full release here