Communication and stakeholders
Access to and promotion of clear and accurate information on medicines to our audiences and stakeholders, including patients, healthcare professionals, researchers, academia, industry and citizens, is part of EMA’s public health mandate. We collaborate extensively with our regulatory partners and our stakeholders across the EU and at international level. Additionally, we publish articles in relevant journals and regularly engage with international, local and specialist media on a wide range of topics related to medicines regulation.
External communication
In 2023, EMA published 124 press releases and news items informing our audiences in the EU and beyond about important developments in relation to the assessment of medicines or significant milestones reached in new and existing initiatives. We continued our interaction with journalists by replying to 1,242 requests for comments and interviews.
As our primary communication channel, the EMA website is a comprehensive source of information and guidance on centrally authorised medicines and medicine regulation in the EU. In 2023, we published and updated 5,105 webpages and published 6,611 documents on the EMA website.
Furthermore, we extended our activities on social media and piloted creative approaches to reach new audiences. By the end of 2023, we had shared 1,016 posts and 24 videos on our social media channels.
EMA’s staff and experts published 80 articles on scientific and regulatory topics in international journals.
Requests for information and access to documents
Providing citizens with good, transparent information about its work is a key part of EMA’s work. In 2023, 6,965 requests for information were received.
EU citizens have the right to access documents held by EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. EMA grants this access according to the principles and conditions defined by Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the Agency’s policy on access to documents.
EMA received 690 requests for access to documents in 2023. The majority of these requests came from the pharmaceutical industry.
Publication of clinical data
EMA publishes clinical data submitted by pharmaceutical companies to support their regulatory applications for human medicines under the centralised procedure. This is based on EMA’s flagship policy on the publication of clinical data.
In September 2023, EMA restarted the publication of clinical data for non-COVID medicines after it had been temporarily suspended at the end of 2018, first to ensure business continuity during the Agency’s relocation to the Netherlands, and then due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of early 2024, clinical data packages of marketing authorisation applications for new active substances are being published on the clinical data website.
Usage of the clinical data website is expected to continue to rise with the full restart of the flagship policy.
Cumulative data
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Products | 133 | 133 | 134 | 140 | 147 | 151 |
| Procedures | 142 | 142 | 143 | 154 | 200 | 241 |
| Documents | 7,089 | 7,089 | 7,153 | 7,368 | 8,110 | 8,824 |
| Pages | 3,393,170 | 3,393,170 | 3,404,171 | 3,483,496 | 3,690,267 | 4,071,151 |