Newtown, Pennsylvania-based Onconova Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel products to treat cancer, has named James J Marino to its board of directors. Mr Marino was a partner at the global law firm of Dechert for 28 years where he was managing partner of the Princeton office. During this period, he advised numerous leading life science companies in connection with financings, acquisitions and strategic alliances. He served as the outside counsel for Onconova from its inception through and including its initial public offering. Previously, he was on the board of Pharmacopeia Drug Discovery from 2000-2006 and has worked in advisory capacities and on the boards of multiple non-profit organizations, including Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.

In January this year, the European Medicines Agency celebrated the 20th anniversary of its creation in 1995. To mark the occasion, Scrip Intelligence and its sister publication Scrip Regulatory Affairs invited a range of individuals and stakeholder bodies to tell us what they think the agency has achieved, and what still remains to be done.

As drug regulation becomes more global in nature, international trade continues to expand, and drug substances are increasingly manufactured using biotechnology techniques, the European Pharmacopoeia Commission is taking steps to develop more harmonized international quality standards, and is also extending its reach to encompass the quality of finished products rather than just pharmaceutical substances.

More than a decade after the FDA dissolved its advisory committee on pharmacy compounding, the agency has resurrected the panel – although, this time with some new members, whose identities were revealed on 16 December.