As the European Compliance Academy released today, Richard M. Bonner, Consultant to the Pharmaceutical Industry and Qualified Person in Europe, accepted the nomination as Director Regulatory Affairs. "I am flattered the ECA Chairman asked me to take this role, and I am happy to say yes".

Mr Bonner has been member of the ECA Advisory Board. He is also a Member of the Advisory Board of the European QP Association which is an interest group initiated by the ECA. As a former Senior Quality Adviser for Eli Lilly and Company in the UK, he also focused on quality assurance issues for the ECA. As Director Regulatory Affairs, Mr Bonner will be ECA's interface to international regulatory agencies and assure appropriate recognition for the organisation. He follows Mike Edgington in this function, who passed away in January 2007.

"Mike Edgington represented our organisation with a lot of commitment and dedication. That's why we wanted to make sure to find an adequate successor as we plan to intensify the contact with regulators. With Richard Bonner we'll continue to receive the necessary support, and we're happy he accepted this responsibility", said Daniel Scheidegger, ECA Chairman and Vice President Operations and Managing Director of Genzyme Pharmaceuticals, Liestal, Switzerland.

Founded as an independent organization in 1999, the European Compliance Academy's (ECA) goal is to facilitate the move towards a harmonized set of GMP and regulatory guidelines. It supports the Pharmaceutical Industry and Regulators through providing information on and interpretation of new or updated guidances. For that purpose the ECA developed a range of tools like the GMP Guideline Manager CD-ROM, and also organizes international education courses, webinars and conferences around GMP, regulatory compliance and currently discussed subjects.

For further information on the ECA please refer to www.gmp-compliance.org.