A new government partnership plan to fast-track new medical products by piggybacking on international drug regulators risks turning the UK watchdog into a pharmaceutical industry “enabler,” a health pressure group is warning.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced on Wednesday that £10 million will be given to the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), to help streamline approvals for new medical products.
Under the plans, drugs that have already been approved by regulators elsewhere could be rubber-stamped with “rapid, often near automatic sign-off” in the UK.
The first regulatory partners MHRA intends to build new recognition routes with are agencies in the USA, Europe, and Japan….