Ingrid Schwarzenberger, new Chair of the IGBA Biosimilars Committee

For Immediate Release

Date of release:  13 June 2017

IGBA is pleased to announce today the nomination of Ingrid Schwarzenberger, Head Global Regulatory Affairs at Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals, as the new Chair of the IGBA Biosimilars Committee. Ingrid has played a leading role in the establishment of a regulatory framework for biosimilar medicines in Europe through her 15 years of experience with the Biosimilar Medicines Group, a Medicines for Europe sector group. Ingrid has a wealth of international regulatory knowledge and business and scientific experience.

“We will continue to closely work with the World Health Organization (WHO) and national/EU regulatory agencies to ensure that WHO standards are implemented around the world and to support regulatory capacity building for the new WHO Prequalification procedure pilot project”, says Ingrid Schwarzenberger. “Implementing worldwide labelling policies, like in the EU and the US, which reflect the scientific biosimilarity concept and fine-tuning regulatory frameworks which allow true global development, are new milestones to achieve”, she concluded.

“Biosimilar medicines have offered safe and cost-effective therapeutic options for over 10 years. Oncology biosimilar medicines are the next frontier. They will lead to significant changes to the standards of care and further contribute to substantially increased patient access through price competition”, added Adrian van den Hoven, Chair of the IGBA Management Committee.

About IGBA

The International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (IGBA) was founded as IGPA (International Generic Pharmaceutical Alliance) in March 1997 to strengthen cooperation between associations representing manufacturers of generic medicines. Its membership includes Medicines for Europe (Europe), the CGPA (Canada), the AAM (USA), the JAPM (Jordan), the Generic & Biosimilar Medicines Southern Africa (South Africa), the TGPA (Taiwan) and the JGA (Japan) while the associations from Australia (GBMA), Brazil (ProGenericos) and Mexico (AMEGI) are Associate Members. The IGBA is at the forefront of stimulating competitiveness and innovation in the pharmaceutical sector by providing high quality pro-competitive medicines to millions of patients around the world. Through its constituent member associations, the IGBA maintains constant dialogue with government authorities (including the European Commission for Europe) as well as with international institutions such as WTO, WIPO and WHO. More information: www.igbamedicines.org