EMA framework for conflicts of interests completed

The European Medicines Agency said on Friday that its management board adopted a new “breach of trust procedure” to deal with cases of incorrect or incomplete declarations of interests of board members. The adoption of the latest procedure completes the Agency’s framework on dealing with potential conflicts of interests of its scientific experts, committee members, management board members and staff, the agency said.

The EMA noted that it takes care to ensure that its scientific experts, staff and management board do not have any financial or other interests in the pharmaceutical industry that could affect their impartiality. As part of these efforts, the rules on how the Agency deals with conflicts of interests have been strengthened over the last year.