Logo of Germany’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union

On 26 November 2020, within Gemany’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Heads of human and veterinary Medicines Agencies (HMA) met virtually. The meeting was jointly organised by the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit, BVL) and the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut - Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines (PEI). The day before, both agencies, already organized the HMA Veterinary Stakeholder Meeting.

The meeting was opened with welcome addresses from the Federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, and the President of the BVL, Friedel Cramer. Federal Health Minister Spahn highlighted the forthcoming marketing authorisation of the first COVID-19 vaccines. He also stressed the importance of developing effective and safe COVID-19 vaccines, the lessons learnt in relation to the pandemic as well as the role of HMA in helping to shape the way out of the current pandemic. As President of the national competent authority for the authorization and post-marketing of veterinary drugs in Germany, Friedel Cramer emphasised the new EU Veterinary Medicines Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/6) which will become applicable on 28 January 2022. Furthermore, he focused on the necessity to ensure the availability of veterinary medicines even in times of crisis, as a precondition to maintain the health of food-producing animals and companion animals.

Both Chairs Professor Klaus Cichutek, President of the PEI, and Professor Thomas Heber, head of department „Veterinary Drugs“ at the BVL, skillfully moderated the approximately 100 participants through a tight and varied agenda as well as active discussions.

The HMA closely co-operates with the European Commission and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in order to further harmonise and optimise the regulatory processes and to bundle the scientific expertise at EU level. The meeting agenda was dedicated to strategic issues such as the HMA crisis management plan, the implementation of the joint EMA-HMA Strategy 2025, the forthcoming Brexit and the implementation of the Veterinary Medicines Regulation. These issues were discussed in addition to and in light of the major issue, the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Year of issue 2020
Date 26.11.2020

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