On November 17-18, the Malta Medicines Authority (MMA) successfully held its first Med-In-Pharma 2022 side-event at the Med-Tech World Summit in Malta.

The MMA is an institution that is self-funded and does not depend on the Maltese taxpayer. Since 2013 it has processed nearly 550 new pharmaceutical licensing procedures as a Reference Member State. It also generates revenue by offering expert regulatory and assessment services to the pharmaceutical industry in Europe, the United States of America, Canada, India, Oman, Serbia, South Africa, China, United Arab Emirates, Ghana, and Turkey. It is no coincidence that the MMA is one of a handful of recognised trusted partners of the US FDA. Its pharmaceutical portfolio is busy and vast and Government recognises its significant contribution to the local industry. That is why the Authority’s original nucleus has been expanded to over 100-strong with further manpower expansion very soon on the way.

The MMA’s appearance on the Med-tech stage is consonant with its newly professed ambition to enlarge its medical device and Notified Body portfolio. This can only strengthen the burgeoning life sciences in our country.

Med-In Pharma 2022 welcomed hundreds of delegates and was endorsed by the Ministry for Health, the Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation, the Ministry for Active Ageing (itself responsible for the MMA), the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Malta, the Department of Pharmacy, Mater Dei Hospital, the Association of Surgeons of Malta, the Malta Chamber of Science and the prestigious European Association of Endoscopic Surgery (EAES).

The conference was made up of a series of keynote lectures by experts in the fields of surgery, pharmacy, medical and pharmaceutical robotics and AI, the latest in endoscopic curative procedures, interventional radiology, applications of medical devices and the cutting edge in dental surgery and implantology. Twenty-six received abstracts from the local scientific community were also presented in oral and poster format. Invited speakers hailed from Malta and far afield – Greece, Austria, Italy, Israel, India, Spain, England, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland and Argentina. In her introductory speech, Dr Josianne Cutajar MEP whose work on the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy is well-known, praised the local scenario for its determination to excel in innovation and digitalisation. She mapped out the current EU legislation pertaining to artificial intelligence (AI) and future plans in this enticing arena.

Dr Jo Etienne Abela, Minister for Active Ageing.

Our own Prof Edward Despott (London), Prof Ferdinand Serracino-Inglott (Manchester) and Dr Jeffrey Dalli (Dublin) showcased their remarkable and world renown achievements in endoscopic surgery, vascular surgery and surgical AI. Minister Jo Etienne Abela (himself a surgeon), Mr Alexander Attard, Dr Kelvin Cortis spoke about the local scenario with regards to keyhole surgical and radiological innovations that cure oesophageal, pancreatic, adrenal and emergency conditions.

In his welcome speech Minister Abela stressed on the importance of collaboration with foreign centres of excellence and the essential aspect of continued medical education which encompasses audit, research, conferences, symposia and hands-on workshops. He encouraged the students and trainees in the fairly young audience to further their studies, embrace new concepts, to resist being deterred by any form of difficulty that may be posed by our insularity and to put knowledge to practice in the service of our country. He went on to describe the evolution of upper gastrointestinal surgery in Malta and Gozo over the past ten years, citing data from a study of 220 local patients. In addition, he announced that just last week Mater Dei registered the latest addition to its endoscopic services. Abela described how endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), a cutting edge, albeit complicated procedure was successfully employed for the very first time in Malta to remove an invasive cancer of the oesophagus (gullet or food-pipe).

Innovations in the pharmaceutical technology relating to 3-D printing, robotics, AI and quality by design were presented by Prof Dimitrios Rekkas, Prof Panarios Benardos and Dr Eleni Tsintavi. Research reflecting futuristic pharmaceutical processes and interventions such as in the area of medical devices carried out by pharmaceutical scientists at the Pharmacy Department of the University of Malta in collaboration with scientists at the Medicines Authority was discussed at the Med-In Pharma conference.

The MMA thanks its collaborators and delegates. In earnest and with its commitment to excellence, it is already looking forward to the challenge of improving and expanding next year’s Med-In Pharma 2023 within Med-Tech World Summit.