EMA relocation could see many staff departures and risk to public health

To complement the European Commission’s assessment of all bids for the relocation of the European Medicines Agency submitted by member states that will be published later this month, the EMA is making available the results of its most recent staff retention survey, which raised serious concerns.

The survey was launched on September 4, 2017 in the context of EMA’s business continuity planning, after all candidate host cities were known and EMA staff had the opportunity to study in detail the 19 member states’ bids.

The  results of the survey emphasize the importance of the upcoming decision on the EMA’s future seat as the retention of skilled and experienced staff is crucial for the Agency’s continuity of operations.

The outcome that was shared with staff earlier this month revealed that for certain locations staff retention rates could be significantly less than 30%. This would mean that the Agency is no longer able to function and, as there is no backup, this would have important consequences for public health in the EU. In a best case scenario, the EMA could keep up to 81% of its workforce.