Lithuania and its partners have won an EU Twinning project in Ukraine
The State Medicines Control Agency of Lithuania, together with the National Blood Centre, the Central Project Management Agency, and partners from Poland and Germany, has won the European Union (EU)–funded Twinning programme project “Support the establishment of the State Control Authority for medicines and medical devices” in Ukraine. The project aims to support regulatory system reform in the country and to establish an independent State Control Authority (SCA) for medicines and medical devices, operating in line with best EU practices.
In this 18-month project, the State Medicines Control Agency of Lithuania will act as the lead partner, while the Polish Office for Registration of Medicinal Products, Medical Devices and Biocidal Products (URPL) and the German Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) will participate as junior partners.
“We see this Twinning project not merely as another proof of the exceptionally high qualifications, competence, skills, and international recognition of our staff, but above all as a meaningful mission to help a war-torn country strengthen its regulatory system and, consequently, its healthcare sector. The Agency already has experience in implementing Twinning projects in Moldova, North Macedonia, and Rwanda, so this will be yet another valuable opportunity to share our knowledge and expertise with a state eager to follow the best practices of the European Union,” said Dovilė Marcinkė, Head of the State Medicines Control Agency and Project Leader for Lithuania.
The main objective of the project is to assist Ukraine in developing the new authority’s structure, internal procedures, financing model, and communication strategy. It also seeks to strengthen institutional capacities in the fields of medicinal product registration, pharmacovigilance, Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Good Distribution Practice (GDP), clinical trial oversight, medical devices and cosmetics supervision, control of narcotic and psychotropic substances, as well as blood and blood components quality assurance, among others.
The European Commission has allocated EUR 1.5 million for the implementation of this project.