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21 November 2017Big Pharma

London loses EMA to Amsterdam

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will relocate from its London, UK headquarters to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.

The UK’s vote to leave the EU sparked relocation plans for the agency, which is responsible for the protection of public and animal health through the scientific evaluation and supervision of medicines.

According to Reuters, yesterday, November 20, Amsterdam was chosen by the drawing of lots from a fishbowl.

It was reported that Amsterdam and Milan were tied at 13 votes each in the last round (Slovakia abstained). The UK had been excluded from the vote.

This reportedly prompted Matti Maasikas, the Estonian minister chairing the meeting, to dip his hand into the fish bowl to pick one of two balls.

The EMA now has just over 16 months to prepare for the move, with plans to launch operations in Amsterdam by March 30, 2019 at the latest.

“We welcome today’s decision on the new location of EMA. Now that we finally know where our journey is taking us, we can take concrete actions for a successful move,” said EMA executive director Guido Rasi.

In September, LSIPR reported that the EMA had claimed that relocation to eight unidentified cities would result in “permanent damage to the system”.

In the eight least popular locations, relocation could have resulted in a retention rate of below 30%, while relocation to five candidate cities could have resulted in over 65% staff retention, with the top city having a retention rate of 81%.

Rasi added: “Our internal surveys have shown that a large majority of EMA staff would be willing to move with the agency to Amsterdam. However even in this case, our activities will be impacted and we need to plan for this now to avoid the creation of gaps in knowledge and expertise.”

Steve Bates, CEO of the UK BioIndustry Association, noted that London’s loss is Amsterdam’s gain.

“Today’s decision on the location of the EMA means 1,000 high-quality jobs leaving the UK, disrupting 1,000 families as a direct result of Brexit, with implications for thousands more.”

Paul England, senior associate at Taylor Wessing, explained that the relocation was an “excellent win for the Dutch life sciences sector and it will hopefully prove attractive to EMA staff so that any disruption is minimised”.

He added: “There is no doubt that the UK will be sad to see the EMA go, but we expect that the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency will continue to play a very significant role in the EMA’s work, and in medicines regulation in the EU generally, as it has always done.”

Penny Gilbert, partner at Powell Gilbert, explained that the relocation provides certainty for the pharma sector but that it is a “tremendous shame” to see the agency having to move from London.

“There is a great deal to be done to arrange a smooth transition and to ensure the continuing safety of patients—and access to new medicines—across Europe, including in the UK,” she stated.

Natasha Pearman, a competition lawyer at Mishcon de Reya, added that although the relocation of the EMA to Amsterdam is a big win for the Netherlands, it is just one of many issues for the wider pharmaceutical sector which requires urgent clarification.

“The next battleground is the extent to which (if any) the UK will remain part of the EU’s medicines regulatory framework,” said Pearman.

For example, there are 1,500 clinical trials for new drugs currently taking place where the UK is the sponsor state, 50% of which will be ongoing in March 2019, she added.

“What happens to new drugs developed and trialled in the UK post-Brexit is not clear, and with a number of big pharma already announcing that they've executed their exit plans from the UK, the UK government needs to move quickly to ensure it doesn’t leave the sector in a permanently bedridden state.”

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More on this story

Big Pharma
2 August 2018   The European Medicines Agency has announced plans to temporarily further scale back and suspend activities in order to cope with a more significant staff loss from the agency’s relocation than was originally expected.
Europe
8 July 2019   The European Medicines Agency has ended a Brexit legal dispute over its Canary Wharf, London headquarters.
Big Pharma
18 November 2020   The first woman to act as executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has officially started in the role.

More on this story

Big Pharma
2 August 2018   The European Medicines Agency has announced plans to temporarily further scale back and suspend activities in order to cope with a more significant staff loss from the agency’s relocation than was originally expected.
Europe
8 July 2019   The European Medicines Agency has ended a Brexit legal dispute over its Canary Wharf, London headquarters.
Big Pharma
18 November 2020   The first woman to act as executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has officially started in the role.