Human medicines: highlights of 2020

21 January 2021

Human medicines highlights 2020EMA has published an Human medicines highlights 2020 on the authorisation and safety monitoring of medicines for human use.

In 2020, EMA recommended 97 medicines for marketing authorisation. Of these, 39 had a new active substance which had never been authorised in the European Union before. The Agency recommended one vaccine and one treatment for COVID-19, and adopted a positive opinion for a medicine for use in countries outside the EU. The infographic includes figures on the authorisation of medicines and a selection of new treatments that represent significant progress in their therapeutic areas.

Once a medicine is authorised by the European Commission and prescribed to patients, EMA and the EU Member States continuously monitor its quality and benefit-risk balance and take regulatory action when needed. Measures can include a change to the product information, the suspension or withdrawal of a medicine, or a recall of a limited number of batches. An overview of some of the most notable recommendations is also included in the document.