December 16, 2019

EMA update

Jose Drabwell, IPOPI representative towards the European Medicines Agency, attended several meetings these past months.

Enpr-EMA’s annual meeting took place in Amsterdam, last October.

Enpr-EMA, set up by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), acts as a platform for sharing good practices as well as a pan-European voice for promoting research into medicines for children and young people through networking and collaboration. The objective of this platform is to increase the number of authorised medicinal products for children. IPOPI, through Mrs Drabwell participation, is the only patient organisation member of this group and brings the patient’s views into the discussions. With the potential revision of the European legislation on paediatric medicines upcoming, this group is a great forum to understand all aspects linked to the clinical trials in which children take place, as well as discussing how to better understand and monitor the off-label use of medication in children and young people. Enpre-EMA work is developed through working groups that focus on different aspects of paediatric medicines’ development, such as ethics, public-private partnerships, international collaboration of research nurses. If you require further information on the work of this platform or any of the working groups, please liaise with jose@ipopi.org

Andrea Gressani, from AIP, attends EMA training day

The European Medicines Agency organises every year a one-day training to the representatives of patient organisations involved in the Agency’s activities, such as IPOPI. This year, Andrea Gressani, IPOPI and AIP board member, participated in this training. The objective of the Agency is to empower patients by providing them a better understanding of how medicines are authorised and monitored in Europe, how can patients contribute throughout the process of medicine authorisation. The training covers topics such as to scientific advice procedures, scientific-advisory-group meetings and reviewing information for patients. Andrea stated that ‘the meeting was very interesting and provided a great overview of the steps required for product authorization and how patients can be involved.’