Medicines for Europe - 13th Pharmacovigilance Conference (January 29, 2020 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands).

This year, following the European Medicines Agency (EMA) relocation due to the Brexit process, the 13th Pharmacovigilance Conference organized by Medicines for Europe took place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The pharmaceutical industry is usually associated with the development and launch of new drugs for the market, but it is also committed to finding new ways of making existing drugs and processes (e.g., pharmacovigilance [PV]) more efficient and better for patients. In relation to this, a variety of topics were on the agenda at the conference, including updates on the progress of the EudraVigilance (EV) system for monitoring and analyzing potential drug-related adverse events, as well as highlights on the E.U. Network Strategy to 2025 and the EMA multi-annual work program related to big data acceptability, electronic product information (ePI) Key Principles and Roadmap for implementation, and work-sharing ongoing projects for achieving harmonization of requirements and processes. Adrian van den Hoven (Director General, Medicines for Europe) opened the conference looking towards the future, emphasizing what the current PV system needs to do in order to adapt to new landscapes. With big data, robotization, automation or globalization, there are many opportunities to streamline and become smarter on the horizon.