The European Medicines Agency- EMA went on to announce on January 26, 2024, that the European Commission-EC has gone ahead and given the agency a €10 million grant in order to support regulatory systems at both the national as well as regional levels in Africa. The agreement has been inked by the EC’s directorate-general for international partnerships, thereby marking the project’s official launch. The African Medicines Agency- AMA treaty has gone on to be ratified by 27 countries, with more African Union- AU members likely to join.
EMA is going to collaborate with African, European, as well as international parties in order to set up the AMA, which is apparently going to be a specialized agency of that will be dedicated to improving access when it comes to safe and effective medical products across Africa. Experts are going to be mobilized by the EMA in order to support the AMA, technical committees, as well as regulators. Training will also be offered by the EMA in order to reinforce scientific as well as regulatory expertise.
In a press release from the EMA, it was stated that the creation of the AMA happens to be a unique opportunity in order to facilitate regulation as well as oversight of major medicines at the continental level, thereby promoting partnership among African countries and regions. By way of sharing its unique expertise as well as regulatory model, the EMRN- European medicines regulatory network will go ahead and share experience with AMA so as to pool-in resources as well as coordinate work in order to regulate medicines efficiently as well as effectively, thereby ensuring high-quality standards as well as the use of the best available expertise, thereby lessening the administrative burden in order to allow medicines to reach patients in a quick way and also accelerating the exchange of data when it comes to critical issues like medicine safety.
Executive Director of EMA, Emer Cooke, said in a press statement that the fact is that it will indeed be exciting to see AMA create its own regulatory model as well as practices in order to increase availability when it comes to safe and affordable medicines across Africa. EMA will go on to support this journey by way of sharing the learnings and also experiences gained by working together as a network of thousands of experts throughout Europe.
The head of the AMRH initiative at the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Chimwemwe Chamdimba, said that as African Medicines Regulatory Harmonisation- AMRH lays the foundation for AMA, their collaboration with EMA goes on to mark a crucial stride towards realization of the mission of AMA. Together, AMRH as well as EMA will speed up the establishment of AMA, thereby fostering greater partnership among African nations. This partnership not only signifies a shared commitment but, at the same time, also accelerates AMA’s journey of becoming a beacon when it comes to regulatory efficiency as well as healthcare advancement across Africa.
