The Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) is looking for a compass for the aftermath Nicola Magrini, the general manager who will leave on January 23 after the spoil system applied by the Ministry of Health. While waiting for the reform approved at the end of 2022 to become operational, Aifa will still have to be operational and some names are circulating in the palaces of Roman power to ferry the agency to the new role it will have with the full implementation of the reform. However, a road that at the moment appears to be uphill, given the media clamor of Magrini’s ‘goodbye’.
To replace the DG, the Ministry of Health could focus on an ‘internal’ solution to AIFA, an area manager. Another lead is the one that leads to Patrizia Popoli, president of the Aifa technical-scientific commission and director of the ISS national research and evaluation center for drugs. She has the right curriculum and during the pandemic she has also appeared on several television shows to talk about Covid vaccines. But a super technician could also arrive, a university professor specializing in Pharmacology. Another path could be the one that would see the current president of AIFA, Professor Giorgio Palù, also take care of the general management. Contacted by time.news Salute, the virologist did not want to comment on the hypothesis. The reform of the drug agency will involve a drastic managerial and administrative change, with all powers entrusted to the president.