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 The European Medicines Agency (EMA), employing nearly 900 staff,
acts as a one-stop-shop for approving new treatments and monitoring
the safety of drugs and veterinary products across the region.
The new location will be decided by the EU's heads of state, whose
next meeting as the European Council is scheduled for June 22-23.
"The Council's deliberations on the Agency's future location need to
be conducted on the basis of very essential criteria and put for
decision as early on as possible, preferably at its meeting in June
this year," European pharma lobby group EFPIA said in a statement on
Monday signed by 19 top executives at member companies including
Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi and Roche.
The industry warned that getting it wrong could impact the region's
high level of public health.
"Were a rapid resolution on the future location of the EMA not to
materialize, or if the future seat of the European Medicines Agency
were to fail in terms of establishing its minimum prerequisites, the
quality of its work and the future of the European Medicines
Regulatory Network would be placed in jeopardy," the statement said.
EMA's executive director Guido Rasi earlier this month also called
for a decision in June and for a carefully planned relocation so as
not to disrupt the body's work.
The EMA, the largest EU body in Britain, has been based in London
since its birth in 1995 and it moved into new premises in Canary
Wharf on a 25-year lease less than three years ago.
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No fewer than 21 EU member states have expressed their interest in
hosting the EMA, including Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, France,
Ireland and Poland.
The new location would have to offer sufficient transport
infrastructure and accommodation for EMA staff and its tens of
thousands of annual visitors and quality housing, schools and
employment opportunities for spouses and family to retain its staff.
($1 = 0.9372 euros)
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
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