Keynote abstract
EUFEPS is there to represent and serve the pharmaceutical sciences community/ies and innovative drug research in Europe, from drug discovery over drug development to drug utilisation. EUFEPS was founded in 1991, comprising 24 Member Societies in 24 countries and 600 Individual Members, currently. Since 2006, there is also a new membership category, Member Institutions, including ten European Universities and expanding. The EUFEPS Secretariat is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
EUFEPS brings small and big groups of pharmaceutical scientists together, around specific or general topics, themes and initiatives, arriving at conclusions and recommendations, preferably. The “New Safe Medicines Faster” initiative of EUFEPS, to start allocating European Commission (EC) funding for research in pharmaceutical sciences, is well known, also becoming the precursor of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and other EC FP7 priorities. It became a starting point of a number of national collaborative initiatives as well. Additional EC funded projects, in which EUFEPS is engaged, include the InnoMed (for innovative medicines), EUMAPP (for microdosing) and BioSim Network (for biosimulation). The first Pharmaceutical Sciences Fair & Exhibition, the new pan-European platform for association meetings, was held in 2005. The second one is scheduled for June 2009, also in Nice, France.
Membership networks are, furthermore, formed to encourage focussed and sustainable developments in key areas. Such networks to date include: Safety Sciences (since 2004), Process Analytical Technology (PAT) Sciences (2004), Bioavailability and Biopharmaceutics (2006), and Pharmacogenetics/omics and Personalised Medicines (2006). The European Pharma Sciences Leadership Forum (EuPSLF) and the “EUFEPS Senate” are being established for new and even broader networking,
Finally, there is a role of Europe – and of EUFEPS – also on the global scene.
