31 January 2024 was an important day for the entire European medicines regulatory network. The kick-off meeting of the Joint Action (JA) Supporting the increased capacity and competence building of the EU medicines regulatory network – IncreaseNET – took place in Ljubljana, with 55 representatives from partner organisations, the European Commission, the European Medicines Agency and the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). The Joint Action, co-funded by the EU4Health Programme, is coordinated by the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices of the Republic of Slovenia (JAZMP)
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 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, which brings together 29 partner organisations from 28 European countries, as well as the concrete objectives of the project, such as that 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 contribute importantly to strengthening national competent authorities in the field of medicines and thus to strengthening the European regulatory network, in the interest of protecting public health and for the benefit of patients.
All activities of the Joint Action will be carried out in close collaboration with the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) network and key groups, i.e. the Accelerating Clinical Trials in the EU (ACT EU), the EU Network Training Centre, CHMP, CMDh, CAT, BWP and the EU Innovation Network (EU-IN).
Photo: Mario Zupanov
