OMCL Network Met Market Demand in Europe During 2015

During the General European Official Medicines Control Laboratories (OMCL) Network annual meeting, from May 28–29, 2016, the network revealed how it worked to meet increasing market demand for independently testing the quality of medicines, blood-derived medicinal products, and vaccines in Europe.

In a June 15, 2016

, the OMCL said that in 2015, the laboratory dealt with a combined 12,000 final lots proposed for the Official Control Authority Batch Release (OCABR) Network for human-blood derived products and vaccines. Additionally, in 2015 the Official Control Authority Batch Release (OCABR) Network carried out 12% more protocol reviews and testing of final lots of blood-derived medicinal products under the OCABR system compared with the previous year.

Representatives from 61 OMCLs in 38 countries said that more than 1000 product-testing projects were added to the OMCL Network’s 2015 work program for the market surveillance of medicinal products authorized in the European Economic area via the Mutual Recognition Procedure (MRP) and Decentralized Procedure System (DCP). The 996 test reports entered into the OMCL database in 2015, represents a 23% increase compared with 2013.

The majority of the MRP/DCP products tested in 2015 were generic drugs, the network said in a press announcement. According to OMCL, approximately 55% of all dispensed medicines in Europe are generic drugs. The savings relative to branded products are estimated to be around 20% in the first year of generic entry in the market, rising to 25% after two years, the network wrote.

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