Brussels, 06/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - Of 81 medicines recommended for marketing by the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) in 2013 a total of 11 were intended for the treatment of rare diseases. This continues the year-on-year increase in the number of marketing authorisation recommendations for medicines for rare diseases observed over the last few years (with 4 in 2011 and 8 in 2012). The EMA says that manufacturers are now beginning to make better use of the instruments provided by the EMA and the European regulation on orphan medicines. “12 years after the European Orphan Regulation came into force, it is undoubtedly serving its purpose, with more and more orphan medicines reaching patients with rare diseases each year”, says Bruno Sepodes, Chair of the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP). According to Sepodes, scientific advice provided to companies during the development of their medicines, has been a “driving force” behind this success. (IL/transl.fl)