'The EMA is withholding too much information'', 1 May 2022

"Transparency is a requirement for better and safer patient care. There is no valid reason to hide information about clinical trials, their methodology or their results, or evaluation data obtained on drugs after their market introduction, particularly data on adverse effects.

The creation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 1995 constituted a step forward, compared with the practices of France's drug regulatory agency at the time. For example, the EMA's online publication of information on drug evaluations, such as European Public Assessment Reports, was a major advance in transparency as to the data in its possession....

It is one thing for pharmaceutical companies to consider that data showing the limitations of their drugs are commercially sensitive. But it is quite another – and utterly unacceptable – for the EMA to actually orchestrate the concealment of these data by pharmaceutical companies.

Transparency is not a fad or an end in itself. In the pharmaceutical field, it is a requirement for better and safer patient care. There is no valid reason to hide information about clinical trials, their methodology or their results, or evaluation data obtained on drugs after their market introduction, particularly data on adverse effects.

Perhaps there are certain individuals within the EMA who are dissatisfied with this situation? Or who are simply resigned to the power relations at play? Or who feel that the way the EMA operates is a necessary compromise, given the varying legislation? If so, these individuals are not speaking up and their opinions are not reflected in the EMA's practices. Whatever the case may be, Prescrire's negative assessment of the level of transparency at the EMA is intended as a wake-up call for policy makers and for legal bodies (such as the Ombudsman) who are in a position to improve the EMA's operational practices...."