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Drug approval in Europe: your complete End-to-End partner for market entry

Drug approval in Europe: your complete end-to-end partner for market entry

Entering the European pharmaceutical market requires far more than a well-prepared regulatory dossier. For any company seeking drug approval in Europe — whether it is your first international market or an expansion of an existing global portfolio — success depends on assembling a compliant, fully operational European infrastructure: a legally established presence, qualified personnel, a functioning pharmacovigilance system, GMP-compliant importation and batch release arrangements, and robust post-approval compliance processes.

Building this across multiple service providers is one of the most common sources of costly, avoidable delays.

The challenge is compounded for sponsors of complex or specialized products. Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), radiopharmaceuticals, biosimilars, biological medicines, and veterinary medicinal products each carry distinct regulatory, manufacturing, and quality requirements. Fragmented advisory support rarely meets the standard needed to navigate these categories through European regulatory procedures with confidence.

Billev Pharma East was built to address this gap. We serve as a single, integrated European regulatory partner for human and veterinary medicinal products — covering regulatory strategy, marketing authorization, GMP importation, batch release, pharmacovigilance, and ongoing lifecycle management. Everything your product needs to reach and remain on the European market, under one roof.

What does successful drug approval in Europe actually require?

Obtaining a marketing authorization is only one milestone in a much longer regulatory journey. Before a medicinal product can be placed on the European market, companies must select the appropriate regulatory pathway, prepare a compliant Common Technical Document (CTD) dossier, establish regulatory and quality oversight, and ensure that all pre- and post-approval obligations can be sustainably fulfilled.

In the European Union, human medicinal products may be authorized through the Centralized Procedure (EMA), Decentralized Procedure, Mutual Recognition Procedure, or national procedures. Veterinary medicinal products are governed by a separate regulatory framework under Regulation (EU) 2019/6, with its own dossier requirements, procedure routes, and post-authorization obligations. The optimal pathway depends on product type, target markets, data package, and commercial strategy — and these decisions must be made before submission activities begin.

For ATMPs, radiopharmaceuticals, biosimilars, biological medicines, and veterinary products, additional complexity arises from product-specific manufacturing requirements, comparability exercises, GMP classification challenges, and dedicated scientific guidance. These categories require specialized expertise at every stage — not only in regulatory affairs, but also in GMP oversight, importation, quality release, and pharmacovigilance.

Post-authorization obligations are equally demanding. Marketing authorization holders must maintain pharmacovigilance systems, manage variations and renewals, keep product information current, oversee batch release arrangements, and demonstrate ongoing compliance throughout the product lifecycle. Companies that do not plan for these requirements before authorization is granted frequently face avoidable delays, inspection findings, and increased costs after launch.

How to Reach us?

Billev farmacija vzhod, d. o. o.
Billev Pharma East Ltd.
Tržaška cesta 202

1000 Ljubljana

Slovenia

How Billev Pharma East supports your European market entry

Most regulatory consultancies address individual services. Billev Pharma East operates differently: we function as your European organization, providing the full complement of regulatory, quality, and compliance capabilities needed to bring your product to market and keep it there.

Our integrated service offering covers every stage of drug approval in Europe:

  • Regulatory strategy, pathway assessment, and market entry planning
    Marketing authorization applications across all EU procedures (Centralized, Decentralized, Mutual Recognition, and national) — for both human and veterinary products
  • Dossier preparation, CTD gap assessments, and submission management for all product types, including ATMPs, radiopharmaceuticals, biosimilars, biologicals, and veterinary medicines
  • Marketing Authorization Holder (MAH) representation — providing a legally compliant EEA entity to hold your authorization without requiring you to establish a local subsidiary
  • GMP consultancy, GMP importation support, and in-house Qualified Person (QP) batch release services
  • Pharmacovigilance system setup and management, including in-house QPPV services for human and veterinary products
  • Lifecycle management: variations, renewals, product information updates, labeling compliance, and ongoing regulatory maintenance
  • GDP consulting, quality system development, and regulatory compliance support
  • Clinical study management support for EU-based clinical programs

GMP importation and batch release are among the most underestimated requirements for companies entering the European market. Every batch of a medicinal product manufactured outside the EEA must be certified by a Qualified Person (QP) located within the EEA before it can be distributed — regardless of the GMP standards applied at the manufacturing site. Billev Pharma East provides in-house QP batch release services for both human and veterinary medicines, ensuring your supply chain is compliant from the first batch released, without the need to engage a separate provider or accept delays at the point of market entry.

This integrated model eliminates the coordination risk that arises when companies rely on multiple service providers. You work with one accountable partner across all regulatory, quality, and compliance activities — from first submission through post-authorization maintenance.

 

End-to-End support for all product types

Billev Pharma East supports regulatory programs across the full spectrum of human and veterinary medicinal product categories:

Human Medicines

  • Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) — gene therapies, somatic cell therapies, and tissue-engineered products, including EMA Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT) procedure support
  • Biological medicines — monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, plasma-derived products, and other complex biologicals
  • Biosimilars — from comparability strategy and reference product selection through EMA or national submission
  • Radiopharmaceuticals — kit-based products, generators, and PET radiopharmaceuticals
  • Chemical (small molecule) medicinal products across all regulatory pathways
  • Hybrid and well-established use applications
  • Orphan medicines and products with special regulatory designations

Veterinary Medicines

  • Conventional veterinary medicinal products (VMPs) for companion animals, food-producing animals, and minor species
  • Immunological veterinary products — vaccines, toxoids, sera, and allergens
  • Veterinary biological medicines and advanced therapies
  • Medicated feed and premix products
  • Applications under the EMA/CVMP centralized procedure and national/MRP/DCP routes
  • Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) assessments for food-producing animal products

Regardless of product complexity or category, Billev Pharma East delivers the same fully integrated service: regulatory strategy, submission management, MAH support, GMP importation, QP batch release, and pharmacovigilance — all provided by our own specialists, not subcontracted.

Choosing the right regulatory pathway

The regulatory pathway you select shapes your approval timeline, post-authorization obligations, and long-term market access strategy. This decision depends on far more than product type alone.

For human medicines, the Centralized Procedure grants a single marketing authorization valid across all EU and EEA member states and is mandatory for ATMPs, certain biologicals, orphan medicines, and innovative new active substances meeting specific criteria. The Decentralized and Mutual Recognition Procedures offer flexibility for products targeting a defined subset of EU markets, while national procedures remain available for specific categories.

For veterinary medicines, the Centralized Procedure via EMA/CVMP is mandatory for certain product categories and optional for others. The DCP and MRP routes are widely used for products targeting multiple EU markets.

Pathway selection must also account for your available data package, manufacturing readiness, commercial priorities, and long-term lifecycle management requirements. At Billev Pharma East, regulatory pathway assessment is always the first step of every market entry project. Our experts evaluate your full situation before recommending the most appropriate and efficient route to authorization.

What happens after marketing authorization Is granted?

Obtaining drug approval in Europe is a significant milestone — but it marks the beginning of an ongoing regulatory commitment. Marketing authorization holders carry continuous obligations that must be maintained throughout the product lifecycle, regardless of company size, market presence, or where your organization is headquartered.

These post-authorization obligations include: maintaining a fully operational pharmacovigilance system and QPPV function; managing benefit-risk surveillance, signal detection, and periodic safety update reporting; certifying each batch via an EEA-based Qualified Person before distribution; submitting and managing variations as the product, manufacturing process, or evidence base evolves; keeping product information and labeling current with EU requirements; and managing license renewals and post-authorization safety studies where required.

For companies without an established European presence, these obligations are particularly difficult to fulfill independently because they require locally established, qualified, and operationally active infrastructure. Billev Pharma East provides the entire post-authorization infrastructure as a managed service — including QPPV representation, MAH support, QP batch release, GMP importation oversight, and lifecycle management — allowing your commercial and medical affairs teams to focus on market access and product performance while we manage regulatory compliance.

Why choose Billev Pharma East as your European regulatory partner?

Billev Pharma East is a specialized pharmaceutical regulatory consultancy based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, serving pharmaceutical and veterinary medicine companies worldwide. Our service model is built around a single principle: everything a company needs for successful drug approval in Europe, and for sustained regulatory compliance afterwards, should be available from one accountable partner.

Our multidisciplinary team combines expertise in regulatory affairs, GMP and GDP quality systems, pharmacovigilance, medical devices, and clinical project management. We provide both strategic advisory services and operational regulatory functions — including Qualified Person (QP) batch release, QPPV representation, and MAH support — that are typically only available through large CROs or require significant coordination across multiple vendors.

For sponsors of complex products — ATMPs, radiopharmaceuticals, biosimilars, biologicals, and veterinary medicines — our integrated model is particularly valuable. These products require consistent, expert oversight across regulatory, quality, and pharmacovigilance functions simultaneously. Billev Pharma East provides this continuity throughout the entire product lifecycle, from first regulatory contact through post-authorization maintenance.

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