Europe Lifts COVID-19 Business Continuity Status

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on May 10, 2023 that it, along with other European regulatory agencies, is ending COVID-19 business continuity measures after the “unprecedented operational challenges posed by the pandemic.” EMA introduced its business continuity plan in 2020 to harness resources for combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan was originally put in place as a response to Brexit and the agency’s relocation from the United Kingdom to the Netherlands.

The continuity plan ensured that EMA, the European Union Member States, and the European Commission could continue to operate while prioritizing COVID-19 actions, such as vaccines and treatment approvals. In addition, activities that were suspended due to the pandemic are gradually being reinstated.

“Throughout the pandemic we proved time and again that public health was our priority and ensured that patients in Europe could continue to have access to the newest, highest-quality therapeutics and vaccines,” said Emer Cooke, EMA’s executive director, in a press release. “Now that the peak of the pandemic has passed, the time is right for EMA and the network to close our business continuity measures. Our approach during the pandemic ensured that we could accelerate the assessment of therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19 in an unprecedented manner while keeping assessment times for non-COVID products on schedule.”