The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) officially became the European Medicines Agency (EUDA) on Tuesday (2 July), expanding its advisory support to policymakers.
The Agency will predict future challenges, provide real-time alerts to EU countries and help them develop responses through evidence-based interventions.
“We were a monitoring agency, but now we’re a drugs agency and a much more active agency,” Peter Griffiths, scientific director at EUDA, told EuraActive in an interview. “We have our own resources to track threats and we’ve expanded our early warning system for all drugs.”
EUDA will continue to collect, analyse and disseminate medicines data but will also introduce new mechanisms, such as the European Drug Alert System and the European Threat Assessment System, to work together to alert and prepare countries when new high-risk medicines come onto the market.
“Just knowing what the new trends are [in drugs] “Whether or not you’re in another location could be really important in understanding what’s going on,” Griffiths explained.
“Europe has a significant cocaine problem and some of the cartels involved also produce synthetic opioids that are commonly found in North America. The quantities and concentrations of these substances, such as nitazene and xylazine, make them easily transportable to Europe.”
The European Network of Forensic and Toxicology Laboratories facilitates the exchange of information on new developments and trains national toxicologists and forensic drug experts.
The network of laboratories aims to harness forward-thinking research to train researchers and develop competencies on emerging trends, enabling them to identify new substances and respond efficiently to the dynamic global pharmaceutical market.
“We can now back up our earlier surveillance work with vital forensic and toxicological analysis of synthetic drugs,” Mr Griffiths said.
The rise in polydrug use is of particular concern. The increase in the production and use of stimulants and synthetic drugs in Europe poses challenges for agencies. EUDA is well placed to deepen understanding and help countries prepare.
“It’s not our job to tell members what to do, we are an advisory role. We want to offer policymakers a little stone of certainty based on better evidence and understanding,” Griffiths stressed.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson is due to attend the official launch of the EUDA in Lisbon on Wednesday.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
