Pharmaceutical News and Updates

  • EMA and FDA meet on new initiatives

      Senior leadership from DG Health and Consumers (European Commission), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discussed a number of key initiatives at a bilateral meeting which…

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  • Orphan Drugs and Ultra-orphan, NICE tries to find a balance.

      Earlier this month the UK Bio-Industry Association published a report detailing their recommendations for the new ultra-orphan medicines evaluation framework for ultra-orphan drugs currently being developed by the UK’s Nation Institute for Health and Care…

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  • Orphan Products Approvals in Europe

      A total of 11 out of 81 medicines recommended for marketing authorisation by the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in 2013 were intended for the treatment of…

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  • EMA publishes Q&A on Art. 31 Referrals

    By Simon Ruini, London 23 Jan 2014 The Q&A guidance document on Article 31 Referrals addresses a number of questions which marketing authorisation holders (MAHs), may have on referral procedures resulting from the evaluation of…

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  • A reminder on biological applications

    Biological similar medicinal products Biological medicinal products have a successful record in treating serious and chronic diseases. The recent expiry of data protection/ patents for the first original biothera­peutics has led to the development and authorisation…

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  • EMA’s priorities for 2014

      The European Medicines Agency’s Management Board, highlighted new priorities for 2014, which include: enhancing cooperation within the European medicines network  facilitating early stages of medicines development  improving the quality, integration and accessibility of data…

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  • Changing the rules of the game. EMA and EUnetHTA’s new 3 year plan.

    The collaboration between regulatory and technology assessment bodies has the potential to change the approach to product development and approval in Europe. This collaboration, that was started in 2008, is likely to have an impact on stakeholders in…

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  • WHO guideline on recombinant DNA products

    Simon Ruini, London After having completed the last round of consultation with the public, WHO expert group is about to publish the approved and final version of the Guidelines on the Quality, Safety, and Efficacy…

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  • On Access to Medicines…from WHO

      Expenditure on medicines accounts for a major proportion of health costs in developing countries. This means that access to treatment is heavily dependent on the availability of affordable medicines. Although trade in medicines is…

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  • EMA begins to publish recommendations based on safety signals

      The European Medicines Agency has published the first overview listing the recommendations stemming from the assessment of safety signals by the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC). The document covers all safety signals discussed during the…

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