An agency reshaped for the future. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced details of its new organizational structure.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced details of its new organizational structure. The changes fundamentally reorganize the Agency’s operations to support better its public and animal health mission, and its role as part of the European medicines regulatory system. The new structure reflects a renewed focus on three key elements:
“The changes announced today will reshape the EMA so that it is ready to handle future challenges and seize opportunities,” said Professor Guido Rasi, EMA Executive Director. “My aim is to give our scientific committees the best possible support, alongside the expertise from the national agencies, to help them keep delivering high-quality, consistent opinions. These changes will enable us to use our resources more efficiently and effectively and ensures that the Agency is better prepared for future legislative and policy challenges.”
The changes announced today are the beginning of a transition period as the Agency revises its operating processes, expected to be completed in 2014. While work continues to further refine the organizational structure, the Agency will ensure continuity of operations. This means that applicants, marketing authorization holders and other stakeholders should continue to work with their current EMA liaison staff and product team leaders unless informed otherwise.
The new structure has at its core four new Divisions with responsibilities right through the lifecycle of a medicine for human use from development to use in patients. Those are:
The reorganization introduces a new operating model for how medicines are managed through their entire lifecycle at the Agency, with separation of the scientific and procedure management. With the increasing number and complexity of applications being handled by the Agency’s committees, this is intended to reinforce the robustness and quality of the Agency’s output and allow development of greater specialities able to respond and support the work of the committees.
Veterinary medicines are managed through a single Division that has been re-focused to deal solely with veterinary medicines and animal health. Information technology and administration continue to be managed through separate Divisions.
A new Division for Stakeholders and Communication is created to provide improved coordination of the Agency’s relations with stakeholders, in particular patients and healthcare professionals, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and a dedicated communication service.
The new organizational structure is underpinned by advisory functions, which provide advice to the Executive Director and the Agency on operational and scientific issues in their fields of expertise. In addition to the existing functions of Senior Medical Officer, International Affairs, Audit and the Legal Department, this also includes the newly created roles of Chief Policy Adviser and Head of Program Design Board.
Improving Relationships and Diversifying the Site Selection Process
April 17th 2025In this episode of the Applied Clinical Trials Podcast, Liz Beatty, co-founder and chief strategy officer, Inato, discusses a number of topics around site engagement including community-based sites, the role of technology in improving site/sponsor relationships, how increased operational costs are impacting the industry, and more.
Unlock Commercial Growth through Data-Driven Patient and HCP Insights
May 2nd 2025Leveraging data-driven patient and healthcare provider (HCP) insights, including social drivers of health (SDOH), is essential for life sciences companies to continuously improve patient engagement and commercial success. Mark Rodgers, AVP of Commercial Analytics at Inovalon, discusses how identifying treatment milestones, assessing HCP performance, and segmenting patient populations using SDOH data can drive targeted strategies that improve healthcare outcomes and market access