The European Compliance Academy (ECA) announced today that it appointed Dr Robert Johnson as Chairman of its Working Group for Rapid Microbiological Methods (RMM). He follows Mike Edgington in this position, who deceased in January 2007.

Dr Johnson has already been member of the RMM Working Group since its foundation in June 2006. He holds a Bachelor in Biology and a Ph.D. in Microbiology. He is also a registered Qualified Person as well as member of various professional bodies such as the Institute of Biology and the American Society of Microbiologists. "I'm honoured by the appointment and I look forward to working with the group to support both authorities and industry in getting a better understanding of the requirements and thereby advancing the introduction of RMMs," Dr Johnson said.

"With more than 25 years in leading positions in the industry, Dr Johnson brings a wealth of practical experience to ECA", said Daniel Scheidegger, ECA Chairman and Vice President Operations and Managing Director of Genzyme Pharmaceuticals, Liestal, Switzerland. "We're very grateful that he accepted our invitation to lead the Working Group", he continued.

About the Working Group Rapid Microbiological Methods (RMM)

The Working Group was founded in June 2006. Its goal is to maintain the European pharmaceutical industries competitive position through providing both regulatory agencies and the industry with sufficient information on new technologies that will allow them a rapid and simplified decision making process and thus increase drug safety and reduce cost. To accomplish its goal, the group is presently working on establishing a best practice guide to reflect current practice and thinking. To find out more about the group please read here.

About the ECA

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.