Pharma Execs Seek Smooth and Quick Transition of EMA Headquarters Out of London
With an eye to avoiding public health issues during the transition, executives from Novartis, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Amgen and other companies are calling on the European Council to decide on the new headquarters location of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) “as early on as possibly, preferably at its meeting in June.”
The open letter, following the UK’s decision to depart from the EU over the next two years, also calls for the Council to use specific criteria to establish the new headquarters, noting the ideal location would have to be able to manage and accommodate for 36,000 expert visits annually.
“Equally important will be excellent transport links (international, regional and local transport), a building that is geared towards allowing the EMA to host the vast number of essential expert meetings it organises every year, and a location that is capable of furnishing a large number of hotel rooms that are prerequisite in order to host the wide range of experts who engage with the EU medicines agency to provide input into vital regulatory processes,” the letter says.
The smooth operation of EMA relies on its ability to mobilize a diverse and readily-available group of scientific experts, the group of executives wrote.
The group also caution that if the future location of the EMA is not decided quickly, or if the future seat of the EMA “were to fail in terms of establishing its minimum prerequisites, the quality of its work and the future of the European Medicines Regulatory Network would be placed in jeopardy. The extent of the severe and significant negative repercussions for public and animal health in Europe would be indeterminable.”