The 2020 annual report of the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) is now available, providing a comprehensive overview of its activities, achievements and events.
While the year 2020 will long be remembered for the COVID-19 pandemic almost bringing the world to a standstill, it was also as a time when health authorities, institutions and the private sector came together on a global scale to pool resources and organise a collective response. The EDQM, operating on the front lines of public health protection, continued to play a vital role, proving once again its relevance for health systems worldwide.
With “business as usual” both impossible and more necessary than ever, the EDQM quickly transitioned to ensuring the continuity of its core activities through a series of measures enabling the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) Commission to respect its work programme; safeguarding the supply of reference standards; ensuring the processing of applications for new, revised or renewed certificates of suitability (CEPs); and guaranteeing the quality control of medicines, including the Official Control Authority Batch Release (OCABR) procedure, through the Official Medicines Control Laboratories (OMCL) Network. The EDQM also maintained its guidance and standard-setting activities in the areas of blood transfusion, organ, cell and tissue transplantation and consumer health. Communication structures were set up, indispensable procedures and processes were adapted and work organisation as a whole was reformed to weather what was to become a prolonged ordeal.
Moreover, the EDQM actively supported competent authorities, manufacturers and developers of medicines (including vaccines) and health professionals, and contributed to the wider global effort to combat the coronavirus disease by openly sharing knowledge and offering free access to relevant standards, guidance and training.
Find out much more by reading the Highlights of 2020 – EDQM annual report.
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