The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has revealed its new delivery plan, outlining its two-year strategy after departing from the European regulatory system.
The delivery plan, spanning 2021-2023, is aiming to ‘put patients first’ after the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety review revealed a ‘failure to listen to and respond to patients’.
The regulator is also planning to address the challenge of strengthening international regulatory relationships now that the UK is no longer a part of the EU.
The MHRA plans to do this by evolving its regulatory framework with the goal of keeping up with life sciences developments including novel personalised medicines and software and artificial intelligence.
Although the MHRA usually publishes a corporate plan every five years, the regulatory body said that it intends to deliver the ‘more focused’ plan within a shorter time frame.
The streamlined delivery plan outlines 14 objectives that fall into six ‘central themes’ – scientific innovation, healthcare access, patient safety, dynamic organisation, collaborative partnerships and financial stability.
The delivery of these plans is underpinned by the creation of a new business model that will provide a ‘financially sustainable future’ for the MHRA.
According to the MHRA, this new model will meet the expectations of patients, healthcare professionals, the pharma industry, government and wider industry and non-profit stakeholders.
“Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic is proof positive that we can rise to challenges with fresh thinking and innovative approaches – fulfilling our responsibilities to patients first and foremost, as outlined in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, and opening up the many opportunities now that the UK has left the EU, with real benefit to the brilliant UK life sciences industry and to healthcare,” said June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA.
“This plan is our response to these challenges and more. We have shown that we can not only excel under pressure and in exceptional circumstances, but also where we can take direct action to support and protect patients and improve health outcomes,” she added.