Welcome New PDA Germany/Austria/Switzerland Chapter!

Global regulatory harmonization efforts, new manufacturing strategies, new techniques and technologies, and new modalities aimed at curing rather than treating diseases all signal exciting times for our industry and set a clear focus. This helps to continuously improve patients’ lives, and it is also an indicator that shows industry collaboration and exchange are more important than ever.

Richard Denk and I shared these thoughts while we were sitting together at the end of a long conference day last October. We were both asking ourselves how we can facilitate that very important exchange between People, Science and Technology in our home country of Germany. We were both aware of the great work all the global PDA chapters are doing to contribute to a local and global exchange among PDA members, and it was clear to both of us that this successful concept must be applied in the D/A/CH region.

That day, we reached out to the PDA to help get things going. Besides the PDA, we reached out to more than 500 PDA members living in the D/A/CH region to ask for their volunteer support to find a PDA D/A/CH Chapter. Within a mere four weeks, 25 members had replied to support this chapter, a very impressive number. This was a clear sign that it was not only Richard and I who were thinking that a local PDA exchange platform is needed. Beyond the PDA Headquarters, the idea of a D/A/CH Chapter was also fully supported by PDA Europe. Some months later, we received the official approval from the PDA Board of Directors to establish this chapter. Now the hard works begins.

To inform all members of what the PDA D/A/CH Chapter wants to achieve, we have generated the following overview of the guidance charter for the Chapter (see Figure 1).

Highlights of the most important targets of the chapter include:

• Sponsoring annual events in the territory focused on specific industry topics
• Facilitating the exchange with industry subject matter experts
• Facilitating the exchange between industry and local regulators
• Supporting Early Career Professionals (ECP) by dedicating them as Chapter Officer or having places for them on committees
• Engaging with PDA, for example, by contributing to technical reports, points to consider documents and interest groups
• Growing the membership base within the D/A/CH region from professionals to ECPs
• Exchanging with PDA Europe on focus areas for the chapter

Figure 1 D/A/CH Chapter Charter

In addition, I would like to thank all the volunteers who have supported the chapter up to this point:

Giovanni Curotto, Antonio Burazer, Stephan Roenninger, Helge Leibfritz, Thomas Balanant, Miriam Kremer van der Kamp, Ana Marques Kuschel, David Hubmayr, Patrick Wieland, Sebastian Teitz, Alexander Szivak, Robert Berlich, Alexander Bachmann, Eva Urban, André Kriegeskorte, Ingo Guhde, Dieter Bachmann, Jochaim Regel, Thorsten Haefner, Andreas Hablesreiter, Sebastian Scheler, Marc Machauer, Frenando Cazzato, Peter Loyen

And we send a very special thanks to Trevor Swan, Adonna Cox and Falk Klar for providing the strong support from PDA to make this happen!

I would like to ask every PDA member living in the D/A/CH region to join our efforts by supporting the exchange in our industry. We are always looking for volunteers to support our various committees, establish a strong chapter and contribute to a strong future for the industry. PDA members in the D/A/CH area, we hope to hear from you soon!