It looks as though the European Medicines Agency finally has a new head, Guido Rasi, director-general of the Italian Medicines Agency.

Dr Rasi (pictured) will go in front of the European Parliament Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety on July 13, which is expected to officially rubber-stamp his appointment as the agency's new executive director. He has been in charge at the Italian regulator since 2008 and been a member of the EMA’s management board since last year.

Andreas Pott will continue as the EMA’s acting executive director until Dr Rasi takes office. He replaces Thomas Lonngren, who stepped down at the end of last year whose departure proved controversial as he took up a consultant role within the private pharmaceutical sector.

Although the EMA had originally told Dr Lonngren it had no objections to his move, complaints led to a U-turn and the agency subsequently placed tough restrictions on any business activities he carries out over the next two years.