31 January 2024 was an important day for the entire European Medicines Regulatory Network (EMRN). The kick-off meeting of the Joint Action Supporting the increased capacity and competence building of the EU medicines regulatory network – IncreaseNET – took place in Ljubljana, with 55 representatives from JA partner organisations, the European Commission, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). IncreaseNET, co-funded by the EU4Health Programme, is coordinated by the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices of the Republic of Slovenia (JAZMP) and brings together 29 partner organisations, mostly national competent authorities, from 27 EU / EEA countries and Ukraine.
The Joint Action will run from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026 and the total value of this three-year project is estimated at €10 million. The aim of the joint action is to strengthen capacity and competence building of European national medicines agencies in the field of medicines assessment, thereby ensuring better access to innovative, high-quality, effective and safe medicines for patients.
The kick-off meeting outlined the key tasks and activities that will guide the work of the network, as well as the concrete objectives of the project, such as evolvement of at least 50 new assessors who will go through the on-the-job training process.
The exchange of knowledge, ideas and good practices will reinforce the network as well as the training programme for both new and experienced regulatory assessors, in particular by optimising existing capacities and supporting innovation. All this will significantly contribute to the strengthening of national competent authorities in the field of medicines and thus to strengthening of the EMRN, in the interest of protecting public health and for the benefit of patients.
All IncreaseNET activities will be carried out in close collaboration with the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) and their network and key groups, i.e., EU Network Training Centre (EU NTC), Accelerating Clinical Trials in the EU (ACT EU), Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), Coordination Group for Mutual Recognition and Decentralised Procedures - Human (CMDh), Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT), Biologics Working Party (BWP) and EU Innovation Network (EU-IN).
Officers of the Malta Medicines Authority are actively contributing to the Programme by leading Working Package 3 of the Joint Action on the overall coordination, monitoring and reporting of the key tasks and activities.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or HADEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.