With an extension in place that will push the UK's withdrawal from the EU back to either April or May, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) told pharmaceutical companies on Monday to continue their preparations for Brexit. Under the European Council decision from last Friday, if the withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU is approved by the UK House of Commons by 29 March 2019, the extension will be until 22 May 2019. But if the withdrawal agreement is not approve...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday kicked off operations at its temporary premises at the Spark building in Amsterdam Sloterdijk after moving out of its Canary Wharf office in London on 1 March.   EMA says it is also working with Dutch authorities to finish readying its temporary premises ahead of 30 March, when the agency’s seat officially switches from London to Amsterdam.   “By Monday 18 March, when EMA will be settled in the Spark building, close to ...

RAPS will hold its inaugural RAPS Regulatory Conference – Europe 2019 in Brussels, 13–14 May. It comes as the European regulatory environment for medicines, medical devices and in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) is undergoing major changes, and both regulators and the regulated companies making life-saving and life-sustaining medical products face myriad uncertainties. The EU’s new Medical Device Regulation (MDR) is set to take effect next year. A new In Vitro Diagnostic Re...

Swissmedic said Monday that based on the currently available information, the association Swiss Plastic Surgery recommends using smooth implants rather than textured implants where permitted by the clinical situation. France’s National Agency of Medicine and Health Products (ANSM) echoed that recommendation after observing most known breast implant associated-anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) cases in patients with textured breast implants. But the committee doe...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday announced that going forward, parallel distributors will be required to use its recently launched secure online portal, known as Iris, to manage and submit parallel distribution notifications.   Background   Parallel distribution, also known as re-exportation, is a process by which companies in the EU distribute centrally authorized medicines between member states, independent of their marketing authorization holder (...

The European Commission on Tuesday launched a targeted consultation to provide input on a revision of its guideline on the content and format of applications for orphan drug designation, as well as the transfer of designations between sponsors.   "The comments received will be taken into account by the European Commission in the finalization of the guideline on the format and content of application for designation as orphan medicinal products and on the transfer of des...

The European Commission recently released an updated document setting out nine new and one revised frequently asked questions and answers on the implementation of the rules on the safety features for medicinal products for human use. Building off a previous update in November , five of the new questions deal with general issues, like whether medicinal products can carry more than one batch number, or whether during the transitional period manufacturers located in the E...

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is preparing to ensure that if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, pharmaceutical companies can continue to submit regulatory and notification information to the UK. “If the UK leaves the EU with no deal, the UK would no longer be part of the EU medicines and medical devices regulatory networks. Submissions related to human medicines would need to be submitted directly to the MHRA,” the agency said. ...

BSI United Kingdom (UK) became the first notified body (NB) to be officially designated as an NB under the Europe Union’s (EU) medical device regulation (MDR). The new NB designation—the first-of-its-kind to be listed in the European Commission’s New Approach Notified and Designated Organizations (NANDO) database—comes months before the timeline the Notified Bodies Operations Group had estimated in 2017 guidance for NB designation and notification. The scope of B...

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) last month responded to comments on its proposal to implement packaging safety features under the EU Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) .   The safety features, which include requiring a unique identifier comprised of a 2D data matrix code and human readable information and an anti-tampering device on the packaging of certain medicines, are detailed under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/16...

The UK’s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock sent letters Friday on Brexit preparations for medicines supplies, offering details that the pharmaceutical industry group said need to be fleshed out further in the lead up to March 2019. In the event of a no deal scenario, the revised cross-Government planning assumptions show that there will be significantly reduced access across the short straits crossings into Dover and Folkestone for up to six mon...

The European Parliament’s International Trade Committee (INTA) on Monday voted to adopt a draft opinion supporting changes to an amendment that would allow for manufacturing waivers to supplementary protection certificates (SPCs).   In the EU, SPCs extend the 20-year patent protection period for medicines by adding up to five additional years of market exclusivity to approved drugs and biologics. The additional exclusivity period is meant to compensate for the lapse be...