Christian Schaerer

Swissmedic
Head Inspectorate, Division of Inspectorate & Licences
Christian Schärer hold a Ph.D in biochemistry of the University of Berne (Switzerland). He is heading the inspectorate at Swissmedic since 2002 and has been a GMP inspector for biological products at the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health from 1994 – 2002. He is responsible for the direction of the GMP/GDP inspectorate at Swissmedic, including responsibility for the Swiss blood regulatory system.

He is experienced in leading the implementation of innovative regulatory approaches on a national and international level, especially in the field of blood products and biologicals, including ATMPs.

He has extensive involvement in international harmonization of regulation of therapeutic products, e.g. as Swissmedic representative at the EMA GMDP Inspectors Working Group (since 2002), as chair and steering committee member of the PIC/S Expert Circle on Blood, Cells, Tissues and ATMP (1995-2010; since 2019), as member of the EDQM Expert Committee for Quality Assurance in Blood Transfusion (since 2010), as member and Chair of the WHO Blood Regulators Network (2006-2020), as current chair of the WHO Advisory Group on Blood Regulation, Availability and Safety, and as member of the WHO ECBS expert panel (since 2014).