EMA Road Map consultation

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has launched a public consultation on its Road Map to 2015, which outlines its priorities for the next five years and continues its previous five-year Road Map initiative.

European and international partners, stakeholders, including patients' and doctors' organisations as well as the pharmaceutical industry, and the public are invited to make their views known on the document, entitled The European Medicines Agency Road Map to 2015: The Agency's contribution to Science, Medicines, Health.

Building on the achievements of the previous Road Map initiative, covering 2005 to 2010, the focus of the new Road Map is on continuous high-quality delivery of the Agency's core business in an increasingly complex regulatory and scientific environment.

• In addition, the document proposes three priority areas for future actions to strengthen the Agency's role in protecting and promoting human and animal health in the European Union. These include: Addressing public health needs by: stimulating research and medicines development in areas of unmet medical needs or for neglected and rare diseases; facilitating new and innovative approaches to the development of medicines; implementing effective preparedness plans to deal with public health threats  
• Facilitating access to medicines by: addressing the high attrition rate during the development process of medicines; improving the Agency's model for the assessment of benefits and risks of medicines; improving the quality and scientific and regulatory consistency of the medicines review process
• Optimising the safe use of medicines by: strengthening the evidence base on the benefits and risks of a medicine following its authorisation; applying novel pharmacovigilance methods and risk minimisation tools; by taking patient experience into account or improved decision making; becoming a reference point on information about medicines evaluated by the Agency.

Comments should be sent using the Agency's comments form by April 30, 2010 to: roadmap@ema.europa.eu

Final adoption is expected to take place in December 2010.