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Europe’s Drug Agency Warns on Work Crunch After Brexit Move

Europe’s Drug Watchdog Warns on Work Crunch After Brexit Move

(Bloomberg) --

Europe’s drug regulator warned that it will struggle to finish planned work for the year after its Brexit-spurred move out of the U.K., but said the main mission of approving new medicines won’t be affected.

The European Medicines Agency has lost an additional 6% of staff since June, bringing its head count in Amsterdam down to 730, according to a statement following a Thursday board meeting. The oversight body had about 900 workers in London.

Fulfilling its work program through the end of the year “will be challenging,” the EMA said Friday, “particularly in view of the need to implement new legislation for veterinary medicines and medical devices.”

The regulator moved to the Netherlands earlier this year in anticipation of the U.K.’s departure from the European Union -- once envisioned to take place in March and now delayed until the end of October. Countries from across the bloc courted the EMA, offering employees perks such as housing discounts and access to schools for their children to help with staff retention.

Drugmakers wanting to get new products to market quickly have been watching the change warily, concerned about potential delays resulting from the drop in manpower. The EMA said it will integrate operations in human medicines to assure the quality of its scientific opinions.

“EMA’s core activities to safeguard public and animal health and the medicines approval process have always been our priority,” Executive Director Guido Rasi said in an email. “We have had to take some difficult decisions on what activities to temporarily put on hold, but at no point have our core activities been compromised and this will not change.”

The regulator will review its organizational structure, while preparing task forces to focus on priorities such as digital business transformation, data analytics and methods, regulatory science and innovation, and clinical trials and manufacturing strategy, Rasi said in the statement.

“This will ensure that the agency is geared up for the future with more efficient processes firmly rooted in digital technology to keep pace with rapid advances in science,” the EMA said.

To contact the reporters on this story: John Lauerman in London at jlauerman@bloomberg.net;James Paton in London at jpaton4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net

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