The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is continuing its mission as best it can, despite the departure of 125 of its employees with Brexit on the horizon. This is essentially the message adopted by its Management Board at its meeting on 12 and 13 June.
The Management Board validated the Agency's 2018 activity report, assessed the state of preparedness of the pharmaceutical industry for Brexit, reviewed the development of a European register containing information related to clinical trials and appointed two representatives of the European Parliament as members.
Not surprisingly, they reported difficulties related to Brexit. They indicated that their staff decreased by 125 between December 2018 and June 2019, and that of the remaining 776, 464 had moved to the Netherlands and 312 were teleworking from London, mainly due to personal circumstances. As a reminder, the agency has been operating since 1 March from a temporary seat in Amsterdam, before its move to a permanent seat in mid-November (see EUROPE B12173/4).
The Management Board, which expects a total loss of between 20 and 25% of the staff, says that the EMA will resume some of the activities it had put on hold as a result of this transition phase. These activities relate to projects aimed at increasing the efficiency of the EMA in pursuing its long-term objectives including, for example, the digitisation of administrative processes. Other discontinued activities, such as the development of recommendations and participation in international activities, will not resume immediately.
In its press release, however, the agency seems to be struggling to cope with the situation: “In addition to offsetting the staff losses and resources allocated to Brexit preparations, the EMA is facing a considerable workload resulting from various new laws for which no additional resources have been allocated”, it notes.
The next meeting of the Management Board is scheduled for October 2019. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)