Tag Archive for: MHRA updates

BREXIT – No extension to the transition period

It seems that Brexit is on course for 1st January 2021….

The 30th June 2020 came and the legal deadline for agreeing to an extension of the transition period has passed with no request from the UK. Therefore the Brexit trade deal transition phase will come to an end on the 31st December 2020. At this stage there will be one of two possible outcomes: Brexit image 22 07 20 3 The next important dates are the 15-16th October (European Council Meeting) and 26th November (penultimate plenary session of 2020. European lawmakers have stated that a trade deal must be negotiated, checked, translated and presented to the European Parliament by this date if the transition period is to end by 31 December 2020). If the UK exits without a trade deal, trade between the UK and EU will change immediately on the 1st January 2021 (i.e. Hard Brexit).

The European Commission (EC), European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) have recently reminded clinical trial sponsors that they must comply with EU clinical trial rules following the Brexit transition period that expires on 31 December 2020 https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/files/eudralex/vol-10/brexit_technicalnotice_ct_en.pdf

The UK Government launched a major new public information campaign to give everyone the facts that they will need to be ready for 1 January 2021. A straightforward checker tool at gov.uk/transition will help identify some of the specific steps any business or individual needs to take to be ready, and will allow companies to sign up for bespoke updates.

To keep up to date with all EMA advice on Brexit please refer to the following: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/about-us/brexit-united-kingdoms-withdrawal-european-union

For more detailed information about how 2020 currently looks with regard to Brexit please see: https://eureg.ie/brexit-everything-stays-the-same-for-2020/

If you require any assistance for UK products please contact us: info@eureg.ie

Written by Emily Fletcher

Emily Fletcher

Emily Flecther

 

BREXIT – MHRA post-transition period information

The UK has left the EU and the transition period after Brexit comes to an end this year.

The MHRA have issued new guidance for industry and organisations effective from 01st January 2021.  From this date the MHRA will be the UK’s standalone medicines and medical devices regulator.

Areas covered in the new guidance include:

Clinical Trials

From 1 January 2021, for registering clinical trials, existing and established international registers will still be used, such as ISRCTN registry (UK), or ClinicalTrials.gov (USA), to ensure the public is aware of your trial. For trials involving both UK and EU sites a record in the EU Clinical Trials Register will exist (other than adult Phase 1 studies).  In the UK, any favourable opinion given by a research ethics committee is subject to the condition that the clinical trial is registered on a publicly accessible database. The time frame for publishing the summary of results is within 6 months of the end of trial for paediatric clinical trials or within one year of the end of trial for non-paediatric clinical trials. You do not need to submit this clinical trial summary report to the MHRA as well; however, you must send a short confirmatory email to CT.Submission@mhra.gov.uk once the result-related information has been uploaded to the public register and provide a link.

 

Pharmacovigilance

Guidance on qualified person responsible for pharmacovigilance (QPPV) including pharmacovigilance system master files (PSMF) from 1 January 2021

From 1 January 2021, the following legal obligations will apply to holders of UK marketing authorisations (MA). These include those that cover the whole of the UK, or are specific to Northern Ireland or to Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland):

  • To operate a pharmacovigilance system for UK authorised products.
  • To have an appropriately qualified person responsible for pharmacovigilance (QPPV) that resides and operates in the EU or the UK and is responsible for the establishment and maintenance of the pharmacovigilance system for UK authorised products.
  • To maintain and make available upon request a pharmacovigilance system master file (PSMF) that describes the pharmacovigilance system for UK authorised products. The PSMF must be accessible electronically or physically from the UK at the same site at which reports of suspected adverse reaction may be accessed.

Statutory guidance concerning the QPPV for UK authorised products is described in the Good Pharmacovigilance Practices (GVP) Module I. This guidance will be supplemented by the ‘Exceptions and modifications to the EU guidance on good pharmacovigilance practices that apply to UK marketing authorisation holders’, which will be published in due course.

Updated guidance on pharmacovigilance procedures

Detailed guidance on pharmacovigilance procedures from 1 January 2021 is published on the MHRA website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-pharmacovigilance-procedures-in-the-event-from-1-january-2021/updated-guidance-on-pharmacovigilance-procedures

 

Marketing Authorisations

New guidelines have been outlined for Marketing Authorisations, to include Conditional MAs, registering new packaging information, guidance on the handling of applications for Centrally Authorised Products (CAPs),  Article 29 applications, converting parallel distribution notices to UK parallel import licences, handling of ASMFs and CoS from January 2021, reference medicinal products, converting CAPs to UK MAs, guidance on licencing biosimilars, bioequivalence/therapeutic equivalence studies and renewing marketing authorisations.

 New Submission Registrations

For planned applications for submission to the UK (for example, a Marketing Authorisation for the UK market), you will need to submit the information through the MHRA national portals.

All current Eudravigilance Gateway users who wish to gain access to the new MHRA Gateway will need to first gain access to MHRA Submissions. The steps for gaining MHRA Gateway access are contained within MHRA Submissions.  MHRA Submissions will not be used to send or receive ICSRs.

A useful webinar on how to gain access to MHRA submissions portal is available on the MHRA website at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/webinars-preparing-to-make-submissions-to-the-mhra-from-1-january-2021

Within the recent MHRA guidelines, the following areas are also covered:

  • Devices
  • Importing and Exporting
  • IT Systems
  • Paediatrics

IN DEPTH DETAILS ON THE NEW MHRA GUIDANCE CAN BE FOUND ON THE LINK BELOW:-

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mhra-post-transition-period-information

 

If you need any clarification or support to help you to navigate the end of transition period please contact us and Ivowen will gladly assist you in a timely manner.

 

Written by Mary Canning

mary