OAFI supporting #BCN4EMA

• Osteoarthritis Foundation International (OAFI) supports Barcelona’s candidacy to host the European Medicines Agency

The International Osteoarthritis Foundation (OAFI), supports Barcelona’s candidacy as the future home of the European Medicines Agency.

OAFI has joined the more than 200 economic biomedical, social and cultural organisations that have signed the manifesto to express their support for Barcelona to host the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is the European institution responsible for ensuring the safety and quality of life of European citizens in the pharmaceutical field. The EMA authorises, after all the necessary tests and studies, the medicines and veterinary products that can be sold in the European area. It has an impact on the quality of life of 500 million people.

The unanimous support of civil society with the collaboration between the Spanish Government, the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona City Council to promote the candidacy, is of vital importance for Barcelona to become the new European capital of medicines.

According to the signed manifesto, the experience and capabilities of Barcelona ensure that the Agency’s relocation will be agile and efficient and will be carried out in the best conditions for the continuity of the programmes and projects currently underway. Moreover, the city’s scientific, technological and industrial potential underlines the necessary attractiveness for the retention of talent and scientific excellence.

Barcelona is today the main research hub in Southern Europe. It has an extensive network of outstanding institutions, universities and biomedical, hospital and technological research centres. This scientific strength is one of the main reason why Spain is the second European country in terms of the number of clinical trials of advanced therapies, with a strong growth in the last decade. Barcelona also has a cobnsolidated ecosystem of information and communication technologies.

The Council of Heads of State and Government of the European Union will decide next November where the EMA will be located which, as a result of Brexit, is looking for a new location (until now its headquarters is in London).

Barcelona is competing with 21 other European cities to host the EMA. Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Vienna, Milan and Lille are the main contenders.

“The priority criteria for the EU when choosing a location for the EMA will be that the move involves the minimum possible loss of talent and that the agency does not interrupt its activity,” says Jordi Ramentol, vice-president of Farmaindustria. The Barcelona headquarters perfectly meets both requirements. If institutional unity persists we can achieve this. “

With the EMA, Barcelona has the opportunity to consolidate itself as a world reference in innovation, industry and health on a global scale, attracting quality jobs, companies, talent, employment opportunities and more income for the city.