Since the start of the COVID-19 health crisis, the FAMHP has given the highest priority to requests for national scientific-technical advice (STA) on medicines against COVID-19. The National Innovation Office and Scientific-Technical Advice Unit uses accelerated timelines for requests regarding medicines that prevent or cure COVID-19 infections. These timelines are crucial to support accelerated clinical research on new medicines against COVID-19.

The European Medicines Agency's Safety Working Party clarifies its recommendations on genotoxic medicines and the duration of contraception to apply to any genotoxic active substance, regardless of its therapeutic indication. However, the recommendations should not apply to active substances whose mechanism of genotoxicity is known to have a threshold which is not expected to be reached in patients. Marketing authorisation holders should take these new clarifications into account when considering the need to update their package leaflets.

The FPS Economy published a call for interest from the Belgian federal and regional authorities for important projects of common European interest. The call is intended for economic operators who wish to take part in innovative projects at European level through various partnerships. The first documents should be sent by 30 March 2022 at the latest.

Over the past few weeks, more than three hundred thousand citizens have obtained iodine tablets from their pharmacies as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. The FAMHP has listed a few recommendations.

During its March 2022 meeting, the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee of the European Medicines Agency has recommended a change to the product information for the COVID-19 vaccines of Janssen and Moderna. The Committee also discussed a direct healthcare professional communication containing important safety information for dexmedetomidine.

The publication of a new royal decree provides more objective and transparent rules, simpler and more efficient procedures, new possibilities such as the merger and relocation of pharmacies and a limitation of the duration of temporary closures. The new royal decree also establishes the geographical coordinates of pharmacies. Pharmacists can now check this and, if necessary, request a correction by 09.05.2022 at the latest.

The FAMHP takes part in the European pilot project for the repurposing of medicines to support non-profit organisations and academia. The project was launched by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA).