10|06|16 - The Italian pharmaceutical industry and Italian government drug regulators, have landed in Washington this week to participate in the 46th Annual Meeting of the Drug Information Association. The meeting brings together the leading international players in drug regulation, including government representatives of the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). On Tuesday, June 15, at the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C., Italian Ambassador Giulio Terzi welcomed the participants to a seminar entitled, “The Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) and pharmaceutical enterprises working together for the future of health.” Representing AIFA (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco) were its Chairman, Sergio Pecorelli, and its Director General Guido Rasi. AIFA is a regulatory agency created in 2004 within the Ministry of Health and Welfare. AIFA publishes pricing and reimbursement guidelines for drugs. AIFA is also responsible for controlling healthcare expenses, not a small expenditure for the Italian government. Also speaking at the seminar were Thomas Lonngren, Executive Director, European Medicines Agency (EMA), Murray M. Lumpkin, Deputy Commissioner for International at the FDA, and Sergio Dompe, Chairman of the Italian Pharmaceutical Industry Association (Farmindustria).

(Pictured above Sergio Dompe, stating that first thing pharmaceutical industry needs to to do is to "reduce our costs")

|CiaoAmerica.net|