Drug evaluators, clearing committee, rare disease initiative…

This week in Europe in brief: Drug evaluators ranked for conflicts of interest; Clearing committee up and running; Rare disease initiative chooses advisers; Environmental database established; Faster decisions pledged on drug prices.

Drug evaluators ranked for conflicts of interest

The European Medicines Agency has assessed each specialist listed in its 3,500-strong register of evaluators for conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical industry, in a bid to make its processes more transparent. A risk level of 1 indicates no interests, level 2 represents indirect interests, and level 3 direct interests. Experts with a risk level of 3 will see their use by the agency restricted.