DIA EuroMeeting Gets Set for 25th Anniversary

The Drug Information Association (DIA) is preparing to celebrate 25 years of training and education provision at its annual EuroMeeting.

The focus of the special anniversary congress, to be held in Amsterdam March 4-6, 2013, will be on better public health protection, greater transparency of processes and the rational use of medicinal products.

The 110 sessions will be divided into pharmacovigilance and regulatory affairs for products and devices, R&D, clinical trials, and other topics. The main presentations will cover implementation of the new pharmacovigilance legislative framework, as well as health technology assessment and the patient's perspective.

"By 2013, the new pharmacovigilance directive will have been in place for almost a year. What still needs to be done or improved upon, and most importantly, are we getting what was initially expected? These are some of the key areas that the professionals attending the meeting will be able to learn about and debate," noted co-chairs Beatriz Vicén Banzo and Peter Bachman, PhD.

"Other important topics to be covered include the falsified medicines directive, the information to patients (what is the status?), the role played by scientific societies as experts, and considerations of an aging population and the potential impact on hospitalizations," they stated.

More than 3,000 people from 50 countries are likely to attend, and there will be over 200 exhibitors. Speakers will come from the European Medicines Agency, the European Commission, the FDA, and other regulatory agencies, and patient organizations will be actively involved.

The opening session will include a panel discussion on "Public/Private Partnerships: Working Together in the Interest of Patients." Other sessions that are likely to prove popular include those about the latest scientific issues from the European Medicines Agency, GCP hot topics, Japanese regulations, and the new regulations in clinical trials in Turkey.

One of the pre-conference tutorials will concentrate on analysis of safety data from clinical trials, and is designed to provide a basic understanding of the underlying methodology and the current guidelines on safety data. Aspects related to the planning of clinical trials, as well as the problems and pitfalls encountered during the analysis of safety data, will be presented. Some case studies will also be discussed.

Walking city

"Amsterdam is the ultimate 'small big city' and combines all the advantages of a cosmopolitan capital with a compact, easy-to-navigate size which translates into less time spent commuting and more time enjoying what the city has to offer," pointed out Vicén, head of the public affairs and technical department at Bayer Spain, and Bachman, chair of the Coordination Group for Mutual Recognition and Decentralised Procedures. "The city has a rich cultural heritage and 2013 is a year to celebrate important events there."

In addition to the 400-year anniversary of the Canal Ring, next year will see the re-opening of the renovated Rijksmuseum, the 125th anniversary of the Concertgebouw (concert hall) and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the 225th anniversary of Felix Meritis conference and event center, and the 175th anniversary of Artis Royal Zoo.

The Rijksmuseum will not be fully open during the EuroMeeting itself, but between now and its re-opening on April 13, 2013, the masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age will be on view in the Philips Wing. From April onward, the Rijksmuseum will be the first major national museum in the world to be open to the public 365 days a year. For more information on the DIA EuroMeeting go to bit.ly/SGL9WS.

—Philip Ward