MHRA Joins the Australia-Canada-Singapore-Switzerland Consortium

The medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency (MHRA) of the United Kingdom has joined the Australia-Canada-Singapore-Switzerland (ACSS) Consortium of regulators, it was announced in an Oct. 14, 2020 press release. To accommodate the addition of the UK’s regulatory body, the ACSS Consortium will change its name to the Access Consortium.

According to the press release, Access Consortium partners will work together with the primary aim of providing patients across the five countries with timely access to high quality, safe, and effective therapeutic products. Through the addition of the UK, the new combined population to be covered by the consortium is approximately 145 million people.

Any pharmaceutical companies submitting applications to some, or all, of the consortium member countries will benefit from having products evaluated for marketing in Access countries simultaneously with reduced evaluation times. Additionally, the Access Consortium will update the guidance for industry on how product applications may be considered for marketing authorization across the five countries, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, and the UK.

The UK will become a full member of Access from Jan. 1, 2021. New guidance will be available to industry from that date also.

Source: MHRA​