Expressions of interest invited for membership of European Medicines Agency committees and Management Board

The European Commission has launched a call for expressions of interest for members of the European Medicines Agency's new Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC), as well as its Management Board, Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT) and Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP).

The call, published on Friday 30 September, invites representatives of patients' and healthcare professionals' organisations and independent scientific experts to express their interest in becoming members of the PRAC. The new committee, whose first meeting is scheduled to take place in July 2012, will assess the safety of medicines authorised in the European Union (EU). The PRAC's establishment is a key deliverable of the 2010 pharmacovigilance legislation.

The call for the Management Board and other committees is intended to find replacements for the current representatives of patients', healthcare professionals' and veterinarians' organisations, whose three-year mandates are due to expire in 2012.

Representatives of patients, consumers, healthcare professionals and veterinarians already play an important role in the Agency's work, forming members of its scientific committees and other groups, reviewing information on medicines produced by the Agency and responding to specific requests for assistance.

All applications will be assessed by the European Commission. As for all members of the Agency's Management Board and committees, the representatives will not be permitted to have any financial or other interests in the pharmaceutical industry that could affect their impartiality, and will be required to make an annual declaration of their interests. All applicants are also required to submit a completed declaration of interest form with their application.

Full details of how to apply are available from the European Commission. The deadline for applications is 1 December 2011.