Communication professionals of medicines agencies discuss introduction of common logo for internet pharmacies in EU starting from 1 July 2015

Communication professionals of medicines agencies discuss introduction of common logo for internet pharmacies in EU starting from 1 July 2015

On 11-12 June, the meeting of the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) Working Group of Communication Professionals (WGCP) took place in Jūrmala. One of the most important issues on the agenda was the introduction of a common logo for all pharmacies that allow residents to purchase medicines online starting from 1 July 2015.

The introduction of a common logo is laid down by the Directive of the European Parliament and of the EU Council relating to medicinal products for human use, as regards the prevention of the entry into the legal supply chain of falsified medicinal products, and the Commission Implementing Regulation on the design of the common logo to identify persons offering medicinal products for sale at a distance to the public and the technical, electronic and cryptographic requirements for verification of its authenticity.

The meeting participants – communication professionals from national medicines agencies of European countries and the representatives from the European Medicines Agency – discussed also other communication issues:

• measures for informing the public regarding rational and safe use of medicines,
• promoting public knowledge regarding risks created by falsified medicines entering the legal supply chain of medicines,
• the use of new technologies (mobile applications and others) in informing patients about new safety aspects of medicines,
• cooperation of Member State agencies in crisis situations, especially in the context of the continuity and quality of the supply of medicines.

The Working Group of Communication Professionals of the European medicines agencies was established in order to promote communication competencies in national medicines agencies, share best practices, help coordinating communication issues in crises situations, develop HMA collaboration with cooperation partners (representatives from the pharmaceutical industry) and continue to improve the HMA website.