EMA Backed the Approval of 81 Drugs in 2016

The European Medicines Agency recommended 81 drugs for approval in 2016, down from 93 the year before.

Twenty-seven of the recommendations were for new active substances, with eight focused on treating cancer. Some of the approved therapies included Genentech’s Alecensa, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Empliciti, Pfizer’s Ibrance, Eli Lilly’s Lartruvo, Servier’s Lonsurf, Takeda’s Ninlaro, and AbbVie and Roche’s Venclyxto.

Seven medicines received accelerated assessments, including Janssen’s multiple myeloma drug, Darzalex, and eight were recommended for conditional marketing authorizations. Meanwhile, seven biosimilars and two advanced therapy medicinal products were approved.