European Generic Medicines Association

The European Generic medicines Association (EGA) is the association and the official representative body of the European Generic and Biosimilar pharmaceutical industry, which is at the forefront of providing high-quality affordable Medicines to millions of Europeans and stimulating competitiveness and innovation in the pharmaceutical sector. The association’s headquarters are located in at the Brussels Maison Européenne de la Protection Sociale, which is a two minute walk from the European Parliament. The EGA has subscribed to the Transparency Register set up and operated by the European Parliament and the European Commission.

Purpose and objectives

The objectives of the Association are, without any profit purpose, to represent, support and develop the common scientific and technical interests of the generic pharmaceutical industry and the biosimilar industry or national or European associations of such, firms, companies or other legal bodies active in the generic pharmaceutical or the biosimilar industries. Those interests shall include, but shall not be restricted to, developments within the European Union, Europe as a whole and relations between the European Union and third countries.

For avoidance of doubt, the objectives shall include, but shall not be limited to:

to monitor, study and analyse scientific and technical subjects of common interest to the members
to encourage the formation of generic pharmaceutical and biosimilar associations in countries where they do not yet exist
to inform the members of all trends and developments of common interest to the members
to develop, co-ordinate and implement common positions of the members
to support any European or international authority in respect of issues of common interest and, where necessary, to make representations to such authorities
to inform, when necessary, the general public of issues of common interest to the members
to foster and maintain contacts with European associations and institutions representing interests relevant to the generics and biosimilar industries
to co-operate with national associations of generic and biosimilar producers
to maintain relations with professional organisations concerned with health
and lastly, through its general activities, to seek to promote progress in the generic pharmaceutical and biosimilar industries by quality improvements in products

Membership

The Association is composed of full members and affiliate members. Full membership is open to companies and national associations. Applications for full or affiliate membership by companies are understood to come from the mother company. A company, member or not of a national association member of the Association, is also entitled to apply to join directly as member of the Association. Parallel importers and companies which are subsidiaries of wholesaler groups cannot join the Association as their core interests are not those of the European generic or biosimilar industry. The quality of member of the Association is personal and may not be assigned to a third party. The minimum number of members cannot be less than six. The number of full members cannot be less than four. All applicants for membership (and once admitted, members), must, at all times: a) be validly incorporated under the laws and customs of their country of origin and b) abide with the anti-trust guidelines of the Association, its Articles of Association, its Internal Regulations (including its Code of Conduct) and the decisions of its bodies.

History

Greg Perry established the European Generic medicines Association (EGA) in 1993 and served as its full-time director general until December 2012. Since September 2013 Adrian van den Hoven is the new EGA's director general.

Annual Conferences

The EGA organises several conferences per year, including Regulatory and Scientific Affairs, Pharmacovigilance, Legal Affairs, International Biosimilar Medicines conferences. The Annual Conference of the European Generic Medicines Association (EGA) includes topics covering new developments and challenges in the generic medicines industry, developments and trends in the European generics market, the evolution and growth of the global generics industry, and the challenges facing the industry.