European Medicines Agency Drops EMEA Address
Effective Dec. 8, the agency in charge of scientific evaluations of applications for approval to market medical products in EU countries will have a new URL, Web site, and logo.
EMEA is widely understood and used in corporate documents to mean Europe, Middle East, and Africa. In a bid to cure any confusion caused by its www.emea.europa.eu address, the European Medicines Agency will launch a "new visual identity" and a new URL on Dec. 8, along with new e-mail addresses and organizational structure.
The "emea" in its site and e-mail addresses will change to "ema," so the new URL is www.ema.europa.eu. The agency also said it will launch an improved public site in early 2010.
EMA has its headquarters in London. Its mission is to protect and promote public and animal health through the evaluation and supervision of medicines for human and veterinary use using a centralized procedure that affords permission to market approved products, including biotechnology products and medicines used to treat HIV/AIDS, cancer, and diabetes, in all European Union countries and the EEA-EFTA states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway).
The agency's network of about 4,500 scientific experts works with the European Pharmacopoeia, the World Health Organization, and other international organizations and initiatives.