Human medicines: highlights of 2020


In 2020, EMA recommended 97 medicines for marketing authorisation. Of these, 39 had a new active substance which had never been authorised in the European Union before. The Agency recommended one vaccine and one treatment for COVID-19, and adopted a positive opinion for a medicine for use in countries outside the EU. The infographic includes figures on the authorisation of medicines and a selection of new treatments that represent significant progress in their therapeutic areas.
Once a medicine is authorised by the European Commission and prescribed to patients, EMA and the EU Member States continuously monitor its quality and benefit-risk balance and take regulatory action when needed. Measures can include a change to the product information, the suspension or withdrawal of a medicine, or a recall of a limited number of batches. An overview of some of the most notable recommendations is also included in the document.