Science and data are the foundation for our statutory tasks as a medicines authority. Our scientific programme focuses on innovation and improving the system. Marjon Pasmooij is the Head of the Science Department.
In the area of science, collaboration was a major feature of 2022. Which is logical, because regulatory science looks beyond borders. “That’s why we collaborate so much,” says Marjon. “With academic groups and other knowledge institutions, but also with the EMA and other national medicine authorities. We’re part of various public-private partnerships, such as the Regulatory Science Network Netherlands (RSNN), and we collaborate with FAST (Future Affordable & Sustainable Therapies). We also play a role in the National Growth Fund project ONCODE-PACT, and contribute to the Innovative Medicines Initiative project EPND and the Horizon Europe-funded project PRIME-CKD. These projects involve research into biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases and chronic kidney diseases respectively.”
These collaborations produced tangible results in 2022. “Five researchers completed their PhDs in 2022, while a number of new Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD students started. They’re working on a wide range of projects aligned with the eight themes of our science policy. In 2022, that led to a total of 40 scientific publications in which MEB staff were involved.”
A major milestone at the European level in 2022 was the completion of the STARS project. “‘Strengthening Training of Academia in Regulatory Science’ was a three-year European project involving most European medicines authorities and the EMA. With STARS, we focused on improving the interaction and exchange of knowledge between academic researchers and medicines authorities. The ultimate goal was to promote the advancement of academic medicine development.”
STARS led to 21 recommendations designed to help strengthen interactions between regulators and academics. “These include more knowledge development and training for academic researchers,” says Marjon. “There’s also a recommendation to improve how medicines authorities communicate, and another on how we can help improve researchers’ processes.”
The topic for the MEB’s Science Day in February 2022, ‘Strengthening academic drug development’, tied in perfectly with this subject. “It was held online due to the Covid measures, but we were able to bring together parties from health care, the academic world and the industry.”
Publications
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of publications with CBG affiliation in peer-reviewed journals | 57 | 53 | 70 | 51 | 40 |
