EMA’s CHMP Appoints New Chair Ahead of Brexit
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced Wednesday its vice-chair—the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices’ (BfArM) Harald Enzmann—will soon become its new chair.Enzmann will replace Tomas Salmonson, a scientific advisor at the Swedish Medicinal Products Agency, who has reached the maximum of two three-year mandates as chair. Salmonson took the helm in 2012 after the previous chair, Eric Abadie, abruptly resigned earlier that year.
The changeover comes at a time when the EMA and the UK's Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) are nearing an inflection point in which they must agree on whether to continue relations post-Brexit. Both EMA and MHRA have recently taken measures in preparation for either a “deal” or “no deal” scenario ahead of the transition set for March 2019.
Enzmann, who currently serves as the BfArM head of European and international affairs, has been CHMP’s vice-chair since 2016. Next month, Enzmann will begin serving as chair under a three-year mandate and the committee will elect a new vice-chair.
“With science evolving at such a fast pace, our challenge will be to achieve a balance between being agile to find solutions to emerging scientific or regulatory issues and being consistent with previous decisions,” Enzmann said in a Wednesday statement. “As chair, I will try to elicit in a constructive way the committee members’ views, encourage their involvement and structure our scientific discussions to foster consensual decision-making.”