Europese geneesmiddelenexperts vergaderen in Vilnius (en)

On October 29 and 30, the meetings of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency and the Informal Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) will take place in Vilnius. It is expected that the opinions expressed and decisions adopted at these meetings will have a positive influence on the development of new medicines, and their market release for safe and effective use.

Experts of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use are gathering to discuss the issues of preparation of strategic benchmarks for the development of European medicines, and the criteria for the selection of experts for European arbitration procedures and their participation therein.

During the meeting, the experts will share experience of how the medical agencies of small European countries, such as Lithuania, could compete for projects against agencies with extensive experience. Lithuania will share its successful experience. Moreover, the experience of the first successful cooperation between agencies in the creation of general expert teams will be presented.

In addition to procedural discussions, scientific news on the creation of new antibiotics and medicines against obesity, arising problems and possible solutions will be presented.

Experts from the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee will discuss problems related to the implementation of the Pharmacovigilance Directive in Europe and possible solutions. The main issues on the agenda are the repeated assessment of the benefit to risk ratio of already registered medicines, risk reduction measures seeking to maintain the current positive benefit to risk ratio, and the provision of information to society in a proper and timely manner.

On the second day a joint meeting of experts from both committees will take place, at which they will discuss cooperation in the implementation of the Pharmacovigilance Regulation.

The main objective of these committees is public health improvement. It is expected that the opinions expressed and the decisions adopted during these meetings will have a positive influence on the development of new drugs, and their market release for safe and effective use.

The meetings of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use and the Informal Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee in Vilnius are two of the five scheduled meetings planned during Lithuanian Presidency i of the EU Council, which are organised by the State Medicines Control Agency under the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania.