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Glossary

Marketing Authorization Application (MAA)

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The marketing of medicinal products is conditioned by regulators’ approval, in order to ensure that therapeutic benefits outweigh risks.

Marketing Authorization Application

A Marketing Authorization Application provides comprehensive information about a drug, enabling regulatory agencies to assess Quality, Safety and Efficacy, and evaluate the ability of the future Marketing Authorization Holder (MAH) to ensure and monitor a sustainable benefit/risk ratio.

MAA in the European Union

Medicinal products may only be placed on the European Economic Area (EEA) marketplace once marketing has been authorized by regulatory authorities. Depending on the registration route – National Procedure, Decentralized Procedure, Mutual Recognition Procedure, or Centralized Procedure – Marketing Authorization Applications are submitted for assessment to national regulatory agencies, or to the Committee of Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) of the European Medicinal Agency (EMA). National marketing authorizations are granted by Member States, while ‘Union authorizations’ are issued by the European Commission (EC) for the entire Union.

The content of MAAs is dependent upon the applicable legal basis – legal bases are set out in Directive 2001/83/EC, and in Regulation (EC) No 726/2004. Consequently, dossiers can be full stand-alone or various types of abridged applications, for innovative, generic, hybrid, biosimilar, well-established, herbal or fixed combination medicinal products (non-exhaustive list).

MAA dossiers follow the structure and format of the Common Technical Document (CTD).

Other glossary definitions

C

CE Marking

CE certification verifies to regulators in Europe that medical devices meet all quality, safety and…

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Q

Qualified Person for PharmacoVigilance (QPPV)

Marketing Authorization Holders are responsible for monitoring the safety of products placed on the market.…

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