This article examines the impact of diverging regulations and practices for food supplements and specialized food products since the UK left the EU market in 2020.   Keywords – Brexit, divergence, food supplements, UK, Northern Ireland   Background and introduction On 23 June 2016, the UK, comprising England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, held a referendum on whether the UK should remain in the EU or leave. Based on an overall majority of 51.9% on ...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) started 2020 by wrapping up challenges associated with the UK’s decision to leave the EU, only to run headlong into additional challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the annual report that also marked the agency’s 25 th anniversary, EMA outlined a year that looked different than most.   “As the scientific body in charge of the regulation of medicines, EMA had an essential part to play in ensuring treatments and vaccines ...

Ireland’s Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) has published its strategic plan for 2021 to 2025. HPRA set out five goals intended to help it emerge from the “twin challenges of Brexit and COVID-19” and deliver better outcomes for people and animals.   The five goals are titled health system partnerships, progressive regulation, communication and engagement, enabling innovation and great people, great processes. By engaging in activities that further those goals...

The withdrawal of the UK from the European Union was fully effective on 1 January 2021, with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) becoming the UK’s standalone medicines and medical devices regulator. Medicine developers need to be aware of the rules they now have to follow for getting their products approved for the UK market. MHRA has published extensive guidance, and this article aims to highlight the most relevant initiatives.   Introducti...

The Minister for Health in Northern Ireland has warned “additional bureaucracy and management” created by Brexit is putting a strain on a team that advises on medicines and pharmaceutical issues.   Robin Swann, the politician in charge of health in Northern Ireland, framed the problem as a result of the solution Brexit negotiators came up with to avoid the creation of a hard border on the island of Ireland. The solution, the Northern Ireland Protocol, leaves the jurisd...

Navigating the re-consultation process for drug-device combination products under EU’s new Medical Device Regulation can be tricky business, said panelists during a session at Euro Convergence 2021.   Speakers at the combination products-focused session shared experiences and highlighted gaps where manufacturers still need clarity from competent authorities, who themselves are feeling the strain of implementing new regulations while they continue to sort out post-Brexi...

MHRA publishes 48 guidance documents on new regulatory regime   The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published 48 guidance documents on the processes that will apply now that the Brexit transition period has ended. Throughout 2020, MHRA published guidance on how drugs and medical devices would be regulated in the UK after Brexit. In the days before and after the transition period ended on 31 December, the agency released a flurry o...

After years of painstaking negotiations, the UK parted ways with the EU on 1 January after an 11-month transition period with a 1,200-plus page trade deal in hand, narrowly avoiding a no-deal scenario.   The trade deal, which was reached on 24 December, avoids tariffs and quotas on goods traded between the EU and UK and sets forth some provisions for cooperation and alignment on a range of issues from transportation to environmental protection but avoids major topics...

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted temporary authorization on 2 December to Pfizer and BioNTech’s mRNA-based BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine, vaulting ahead of regulators in the US and EU.   The temporary authorization is “batch-specific” and applies only to a single batch of the vaccine. Subsequent batches must be approved by MHRA and must meet the same authorization conditions as the initial batch. MHRA said the decision was mad...

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on Thursday issued post-transition guidance on orphan medicines designations and incentives, as well as guidance on supplying medicines from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.   The guidances are the latest in a suite of post-transition guidance from the agency as it prepares for the Brexit transition period to expire at the end of the year. (RELATED: MHRA posts suite of post-transition guidances , ...

In its suite of post-transition guidances released Tuesday, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a dozen documents explaining how medicines licensure will work after the Brexit transition period expires on 1 January 2021.   The guidance, which largely mirrors the “no deal” scenario laid out in now-withdrawn guidance issued last year, explains a range of issues from converting centrally authorized products (CAPs) to UK marketing au...

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on Tuesday released more than two dozen guidance documents explaining how drugs, medical devices, clinical trials and more will be regulated after the Brexit transition period expires on 1 January 2021.   Clinical trials   Two guidances related to clinical trials explain requirements for the registration of clinical trials for investigational medicinal products and the submission of substantial ...