Nearly a year after his leadership of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) was prematurely annulled by a European Court, Guido Rasi is set to return to his role as its executive director.
The European Union Civil Service Tribunal’s ruling came after a case was made against the EMA’s 2011 selection of Rasi and left deputy executive director Andreas Pott in charge.
Now the EMA’s management board has nominated Rasi for his old job, selecting him from a shortlist of candidates provided to it by the European Commission.
Before his appointment can be confirmed Rasi must face a hearing at the European Parliament, as well as its Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety on October 13, on his proposed appointment.
Rasi said: “I am honoured to have been nominated as EMA’s executive director and am grateful for the opportunity to continue our efforts to make the Agency fit for the challenges ahead.
“I am enormously proud of the Agency and its network. Looking to the future, we must continue to meet patients’ legitimate expectations for access to new and safe therapeutic options. This requires that the medicines authorisation process not only supports the early stages of research and development, but also strives to make the best possible use of real world data throughout a medicine’s lifecycle.”
Since his appointment was annulled, Rasi has continued serving at the EMA, moving to a role as principal adviser in charge of strategy.
Prior to his 2011 appointment as EMA executive director, Rasi was director-general of the Italian Medicines Agency from 2008, and before that spent three years as director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine of the National Research Council in Rome.
Management board chair Professor Sir Kent Woods said: “The decision of the management board is the result of a robust recruitment process over the last months. We look forward to Professor Rasi resuming his leadership of the Agency.”
Until Rasi’s appointed is confirmed deputy executive director Andreas Pott will continue to lead EMA operations and act as its legal representative.