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© 2005 Oxford University Press
NEWS |
For the European Medicines Agency, A Decade of Challenges
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Set up in January 1995 to be responsible for the scientific evaluation of applications for drug marketing authorizations for the entire European Union, the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (now the European Medicines Agency, but it still maintains the acronym EMEA) faced enormous challenges from the start. Not the least of these challenges was dealing with the well-established regulatory bodies that existed in the 15 member countries of the European Union at the time who were reluctant to give up their independence.
"EMEA set out not to be an alien body, overlooking and dominating the network of national agencies, but as a common building, designed to mutualize the best skills of the European club and put them at the service of European patients and citizens," said Jean Marimbert, director general of the French