Registration of medicines, an area largely untapped by the Maltese Medicines Agency until a few years ago, has turned into such a success its Dutch counterpart is helping it to cover the cost of recruiting more pharmacists.

The head of the local agency, Anthony Serracino Inglott, said the Dutch agency was very keen for Malta to do more registrations and, a few months ago, it sent €260,000 to cover half the wages of 10 new pharmacists.

“They sent the cheque as soon as I said ‘yes’,” he said.

The new recruits will bring the agency’s workforce up to 60, more than double what it was when he took over just after the 2013 election.

Prof. Serracino Inglott said that, at that time, the agency was languishing financially, with corners having to be cut from areas such as training and conference participation.

He preferred to adopt a “bold approach” and wanted to bid for registration contracts, which are done for a set fee and are awarded on the basis of experience and expertise.

“There were many naysayers who felt it was beyond us,” he said.

“The difficulty was to persuade the European Medicines Agency to give us the first contracts. It very hard to get our foot in the door because you need the experience and the experience then attracts qualified people, and so on. A real chicken and egg situation.

“We went for relatively easier projects, like generic medicines, which gave us the chance to show that we are capable,” he added.

Prof. Serracino Inglott recalled that, within a few months, the agency was able to break even and the practice has now become its biggest income.

Now the many have so much to do they can hardly cope

“And I do not want to stop here. We are actually building up a structure that will provide a steady stream of work,” he said.

This depended on having enough expertise, with the agency investing in its own staff through training offered by the EMA. It is also offering a doctorate for the fifth year running, which has attracted international students, some of whom are also interested in getting a job here.

“And it was very motivating for our employees. There was a time when there was not enough for the few to keep busy. Now the many have so much to do they can hardly cope,” he said.

He is now looking ahead, especially to the impact of Brexit. Malta had lost its bid to host the European Medicines Agency, which had to move from London to Amsterdam.

The British medicines agency has already started to cut back on the considerable share of registration work it used to handle and Prof. Serracino Inglott is determined that Malta will be able to get a good share of the work rather than leaving it to the larger member states that, in the past, would take the lion’s share.

He said that good relations with the Netherlands, built up over the years, were paying off.

“The Netherlands will have to take over a considerable amount of work from the UK agency, over and above what they already had. This is producing a heavy workload so they encouraged us to increase our capacity as much as possible,” Prof. Serracino Inglott said.

He is determined to aim even higher: beyond generic medicines. He also hopes to double the number of medicines they register.

The agency has already taken over more space at the Life Sciences Park and has also invested heavily in digitalisation of all the databases, with the help of the Government Printing Press.

“It was a huge job. The files took up two rooms each as big as my office, which had to be searched manually whenever we needed anything,” he said.

“The challenge is to keep our feet on the ground and also to build up a reputation slowly but surely,” Prof. Serracino Inglott added.