International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities

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The International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) is a global conference of government health bureaucrats. [1] [2]

Contents

History

In 2012, at the margins of the 65th World Health Assembly conference in May the Minister of Health of Brazil proposed an agenda to create a new coalition of Heads of Agency "to address current and emerging human medicine regulatory and safety challenges globally, strategically and in an ongoing, transparent, authoritative and institutional manner." [3]

The health bureaucrats pursued this agenda again in October, at the International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities (ICDRA), and again in December 2012 at the Heads of Medicines Regulatory Agencies Summit. "As a result, a consensus has emerged on the desirability of developing an ICMRA to address common issues." [3]

Amongst the reasons cited for this body to be established was "Continued industry and political pressures to harmonise and align regulatory practices and activities." [3]

COVID-19 response

The ICMRA "held a global medicines regulators web meeting on March 18, 2020. Discussions included regulatory considerations for anticipated COVID-19 vaccine candidates to advance regulatory convergence. A key objective of the meeting was to discuss and agree on an approach to the requirements to support first-in-human clinical trials." [4]

The ICMRA issued a joint press release on 28 April 2020. The ICMRA held three virtual meetings with more than 100 participants each from our 29 members over the month of April. The chief result of these meetings was to streamline regulatory oversight during the COVID-19 pandemic. [5]

Participants

The World Health Organization is listed as an observer. The list of participants as of April 2020 is as follows: [6]

As of April 2020, associate members are listed below: [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food and Drug Administration</span> Agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services

The United States Food and Drug Administration is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), cosmetics, animal foods & feed and veterinary products.

Health Canada is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for national health policy. The department itself is also responsible for numerous federal health-related agencies, including the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), among others. These organizations help to ensure compliance with federal law in a variety of healthcare, agricultural, and pharmaceutical activities. This responsibility also involves extensive collaboration with various other federal- and provincial-level organizations in order to ensure the safety of food, health, and pharmaceutical products—including the regulation of health research and pharmaceutical manufacturing/testing facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Good manufacturing practice</span> Manufacturing quality standards

Current Good manufacturing practices (cGMP) are those conforming to the guidelines recommended by relevant agencies. Those agencies control the authorization and licensing of the manufacture and sale of food and beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, dietary supplements, and medical devices. These guidelines provide minimum requirements that a manufacturer must meet to assure that their products are consistently high in quality, from batch to batch, for their intended use. The rules that govern each industry may differ significantly; however, the main purpose of GMP is always to prevent harm from occurring to the end user. Additional tenets include ensuring the end product is free from contamination, that it is consistent in its manufacture, that its manufacture has been well documented, that personnel are well trained, and that the product has been checked for quality more than just at the end phase. GMP is typically ensured through the effective use of a quality management system (QMS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regulation of therapeutic goods</span> Legal management of drugs and restricted substances

The regulation of therapeutic goods, defined as drugs and therapeutic devices, varies by jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the United States, they are regulated at the national level by a single agency. In other jurisdictions they are regulated at the state level, or at both state and national levels by various bodies, as in Australia.

Pharmacovigilance, also known as drug safety, is the pharmaceutical science relating to the "collection, detection, assessment, monitoring, and prevention" of adverse effects with pharmaceutical products. The etymological roots for the word "pharmacovigilance" are: pharmakon and vigilare. As such, pharmacovigilance heavily focuses on adverse drug reactions (ADR), which are defined as any response to a drug which is noxious and unintended, including lack of efficacy. Medication errors such as overdose, and misuse and abuse of a drug as well as drug exposure during pregnancy and breastfeeding, are also of interest, even without an adverse event, because they may result in an adverse drug reaction.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom which is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe.

Regulatory affairs (RA), also called government affairs, is a profession within regulated industries, such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, agrochemicals, energy, banking, telecom etc. Regulatory affairs also has a very specific meaning within the healthcare industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Medical Products Administration</span>

The National Medical Products Administration was founded on the basis of the former State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). In March 2013, the former regulatory body was rebranded and restructured as the China Food and Drug Administration, elevating it to a ministerial-level agency. In 2018, as part of China's 2018 government administration overhaul, the name was changed to 'National Medical Products Administration' and merged into the newly created State Administration for Market Regulation. The headquarters are in Xicheng District, Beijing.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is the medicine and therapeutic regulatory agency of the Australian Government. As part of the Department of Health, the TGA regulates the quality, supply and advertising of medicines, pathology devices, medical devices, blood products and most other therapeutics. Any items that claim to have a therapeutic effect, are involved in the administration of medication, or are otherwise covered by the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, the Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990, or a ministerial order, must be approved by the TGA and registered in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods.

The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) is one of six main centers for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The current Director of CBER is Peter Marks, M.D., PhD. CBER is responsible for assuring the safety, purity, potency, and effectiveness of biologics and related products. Not all biologics are regulated by CBER. Monoclonal antibodies and other therapeutic proteins are regulated by the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER).

Postmarketing surveillance (PMS), also known as post market surveillance, is the practice of monitoring the safety of a pharmaceutical drug or medical device after it has been released on the market and is an important part of the science of pharmacovigilance. Since drugs and medical devices are approved on the basis of clinical trials, which involve relatively small numbers of people who have been selected for this purpose – meaning that they normally do not have other medical conditions which may exist in the general population – postmarketing surveillance can further refine, or confirm or deny, the safety of a drug or device after it is used in the general population by large numbers of people who have a wide variety of medical conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health Sciences Authority</span> Statutory board under the Ministry of Health of the Singapore Government

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Health of the Government of Singapore. It is a multi-disciplinary agency, responsible for applying medical, pharmaceutical and scientific expertise to protect and advance public health and safety.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to clinical research:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phases of clinical research</span> Clinical trial stages using human subjects

The phases of clinical research are the stages in which scientists conduct experiments with a health intervention to obtain sufficient evidence for a process considered effective as a medical treatment. For drug development, the clinical phases start with testing for safety in a few human subjects, then expand to many study participants to determine if the treatment is effective. Clinical research is conducted on drug candidates, vaccine candidates, new medical devices, and new diagnostic assays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation</span> Indian Apex Drug Regulatory Body

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) is India's national regulatory body for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. It serves a similar function to the European Medicines Agency of the European Union, the PMDA of Japan, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency of the United Kingdom, and the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China. The Indian government has announced its plan to bring all medical devices, including implants and contraceptives under a review of the Central Drugs and Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moderna COVID-19 vaccine</span> RNA COVID-19 vaccine

The Moderna COVID‑19 vaccine, sold under the brand name Spikevax, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by American company Moderna, the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Depending on the jurisdiction, it is authorized for use in people aged six months, twelve years, or eighteen years and older. It provides protection against COVID-19 which is caused by infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is designed to be administered as two or three 0.5 mL doses given by intramuscular injection at an interval of at least 28 days apart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valneva COVID-19 vaccine</span> Vaccine candidate against COVID-19

Valneva COVID-19 vaccine is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by French biotechnology company Valneva SE in collaboration with the American biopharmaceutical company Dynavax Technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Health Regulatory Authority (Bahrain)</span>

The National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) is an independent regulatory body established in 2010, under Law No. 38 of 2009, of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janssen COVID-19 vaccine</span> Vaccine against COVID-19

The Janssen COVID‑19 vaccine, sold under the brand name Jcovden, is a COVID‑19 vaccine that was developed by Janssen Vaccines in Leiden, Netherlands, and its Belgian parent company Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of American company Johnson & Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emer Cooke</span> Irish pharmacist and director of European Medicines Agency

Emer Cooke is an Irish pharmacist and Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) since November 2020. She is also the chairperson at the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA).

References

  1. Balfour, Hannah (10 May 2021). "ICMRA and WHO state clinical trial reports should be published without redaction". Russell Publishing Limited. European Pharmaceutical Review.
  2. "Regulators explore new methods to evaluate vaccines for latecomers". Kyodo News. 29 April 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "History of ICMRA". ICMRA. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  4. "Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Canada's response". Government of Canada. 2020-04-23. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  5. "ICMRA statement on COVID-19" (PDF). ICMRA. 28 April 2020.
  6. 1 2 "ICMRA Membership Country/Region and Regulatory Authority' s website". ICMRA. Retrieved 28 April 2020.