medicines evaluation board
Responsibility for assessing, authorising and for monitoring the
safety of human medicinal products lies with a Board made up of
doctors, pharmacists and scientists. This Medicines Evaluation
Board (MEB) has autonomous powers to take decisions on the
availability of these medicinal products. The MEB is responsible
for authorising and monitoring safe and effective medicinal
products on the Dutch market and shares in responsibility for
authorising medicinal products throughout the European Union.
Board membership
The MEB is made up of a chairman and between nine and seventeen
other members (doctors, pharmacists and scientists). The chairman
and members are appointed by the Minister for Health, Welfare and
Sport.
The chairman and members are appointed for a four-year term and can
be reappointed for a further four years. The MEB’s responsibilities
and operating methods are laid down in the Dutch Medicines Act
(Geneesmiddelenwet).
MEB Agency
The members of the Board are supported in their work by the over
180 employees of the MEB Agency. As part of the Ministry of Health,
Welfare and Sport, the Agency is responsible for preparing and
implementing the MEB’s decisions and for coordinating
pharmacovigilance in the Netherlands.
The Agency also performs assessments of veterinary medicines via
the Veterinary Medicines Unit and the evaluation of novel foods via
the Novel Foods Unit. However, the Board is not responsible for
decisions and authorisation regarding veterinary medicinal products
and novel foods.
The Veterinary Medicines Unit prepares the decisions for the
Veterinary Medicinal Products Authorisation Committee. This
Committee advises the Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food
Quality and the Minister for Health, Welfare and Sport, who are
responsible for policy and share the political responsibility.
In the Netherlands, the competent authority for assessing Novel
Foods is the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The Ministry
then asks the Novel Foods Unit of the MEB Agency to conduct a
scientific assessment of the product to determine consumer
safety.
MEB meetings
You can find agendas and minutes of MEB meetings on the
News page in the Human Medicines section.
For more information about a particular MEB member, click on the
name. This will give you more details about the particular member
along with a short CV and declaration of interests.
Secretaries
Drs. A.A.W. Kalis (first
secretary)
Mrs. drs. A.G. Kruger-Peters (undersecretary)
Drs. F.W. Weijers (undersecretary)
Drs. R.E. Bijleveld (vice-secretary)
Mrs. drs. K.H. Doorduyn-van der Stoep (vice-secretary)
Drs. E. van Galen (vice-secretary)
Mrs. drs. G.M. Janse-de Hoog (vice-secretary)
Mr. D.S. Slijkerman (vice-secretary)
Prof. dr. H.G.M. Leufkens - chairman
Bert Leufkens is a pharmacist, epidemiologist and a professor of
pharmacoepidemiology.
Besides his work a chairman of the MEB, he is active for the
Farmaceutical Science department of the Science Faculty at Utrecht
University.
More information about Prof. dr. H.G.M. Leufkens (in
Dutch) »
Prof. dr. J.T. Van Dissel - vice-chairman
Jaap van Dissel has been a member of the MEB since 2000. He
works as a professor of internal medicine, especially infectuous
diseases, at the LUMC (Leiden University Medical Centre). He is
also a core member (vice-chair) of the therapeutic Advisory Group
Anti-Infectives at EMA in London.
More information about Prof. dr. J.T. Van Dissel (in Dutch)
»
Dr. A.A.M. Franken
Anton Franken has
been a member of the MEB since 2005. He works as an
internist-endocrinologist at the Isala clinics in Zwolle.
More information about Dr. A.A.M. Franken (in Dutch) »
____________________________________________________
Prof. J.M.W. Hazes is professor of rheumatology at Erasmus MC in
Rotterdam and has many years of experience as a practising doctor
and active participant in translational and clinical medicinal
products research. With her extensive knowledge of new, advanced
biotechnological medicinal products in relation to their direct
clinical application in patient care, she fills the universally
recognised gap in knowledge of the Board.
More information about Prof. Dr. J.M.W.Hazes (in Dutch) »
Prof. dr. Y.A. Hekster
Yechiel Hekster has been a member of the MEB since 1992. He
works as a professor of Clinical Pharmacy at the University Medical
Centre St. Radboud in Nijmegen. He is also a member of the Central
Board of the Pharmacy Specialists Regulation a member of the CMO in
the Arnhem-Nijmegen area.
More information about Prof. dr. Y.A. Hekster (in Dutch)
»
Prof. dr. G.J. Mulder
Gerard Mulder has been a member of the MEB since 1997. He is the
chairman of the WGD commission (Occupational Risk Assessment)
of the Health Council. He is also a member of the van de
Surveillance Commission of the National Institute for Public Health
and the Environment (RIVM) in Bilthoven.
More information about Prof. dr. G.J. Mulder (in Dutch)
»
Prof. dr. C. Neef - Chairman of the MEB Investigation
Committee
Cees Neef has been a member of the MEB since 1995. He is the head
of the Hospital Pharmacy in the Academic Hospital of
Maastricht. He also works as a senior lecturer at the Faculty of
Medicine at the University of Maastricht.
More information about Prof. dr. C. Neef (in Dutch)
»
Dr. M.F. Peeters
Marcel Peeters has been a member of the MEB since 2004. He works
as a physician-microbiologist at the regional laboratory for Public
Health, the laboratory for Medical Microbiology and Immunology at
the St. Elisabeth Hospital in Tilburg. He also works as a clinical
embryologist at the IVF centre of the St. Elisabeth Hospital in
Tilburg.
More information about Dr. M.F. Peeters (in Dutch) »
Prof. dr. J.M. Van Ree
Jan van Ree has been a member of the MEB since 1990. He is a
professor of psychopharmacology ánd the director of the Rudolf
Magnus Institute for Neuroscience at Utrecht University and the
University Medical Centre Utrecht. He also works as a manager of
Investigations and Education at the Brain Devision of the
University Medical Centre Utrecht.
More information about Prof. dr. J.M. Van Ree (in Dutch) »
Dr. C.F.H. Rosmalen
Karel Rosmalen has been a member of the MEB since 1997. He works as
a general practitioner. He also works as the head of the Policy and
Development department at the National Association of GPs
(LHV).
More information about Dr. C.F.H. Rosmalen (in Dutch)
»
Prof. dr. J.H.M. Schellens
Jan Schellens has been a member of the MEB since 1999. He works
as an internist at the Dutch Cancer Institute/Antoni van
Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam. He also works as a professor of
Clinical Drug Toxicology (Faculty of Science, Department of
Pharmaceutical Science, Biomedical Analysis Section) at Utrecht
University.
More information about Prof. dr. J.H.M. Schellens (in
Dutch)»
Prof. dr. A.F.A.M. Schobben
Fred Schobben has been a member of the MEB since 1988. He
works as a hospital pharmacist/clinical pharmacologist at the UMC
in Utrecht. He also works as a professor of Clinical
Pharmacotherapy at the Pharmaceutical Science Department of the
Faculty of Science at Utrecht University.
More information about Prof. dr. A.F.A.M. Schobben (in Dutch)
»
Dr. J.A.J.M. Taminiau
Jan Taminiau has been a member of the MEB since 2005. Hij
works as a paediatrician at the Emma Children’s Hospital/AMC.
More information about Dr. J.A.J.M. Taminiau (in Dutch) »
Dr. B.J. van Zwieten-Boot has many years of experience in the
field of national and European evaluation procedures for medicinal
products. She has been the Dutch representative member of the CHMP
in London for over 6 years and belongs to the group of most
authoritative experts in the world in the field of the
authorisation of medicinal products. In addition, she participates
in many international regulatory platforms, bringing vast
experience and knowledge with her.
More information about Dr. B.J. van Zwieten-Boot (in Dutch)
»