Europe’s medicines safety regulator has tightened its conflict of interest rules for scientific committee members and expert advisers in an updated policy document.
New rules stipulate that European Medicines Agency (EMA) committee members who announce their intention to work for a pharmaceutical company must immediately cease to be involved in the evaluation of medicines. Previously, the rules were less stringent in the period between declaring the intention to start a new role and beginning employment.
“The effective management of conflicts of interests is key to ensuring the independence and integrity of the agency’s scientific recommendations,” says Noël Wathion, EMA’s chief policy adviser.
Members of the EMA’s committees — such as the Committee on Medicinal Products for Human Use — are nominated by national competent authorities in the EU, such as the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. As such, the EMA cannot remove the member from the committee. It can, however, restrict what the member can do in that role. If a member takes up employment with a pharmaceutical company, the nationally competent authority will often nominate a new candidate for the committee.
