MHRA's new corporate plan sets out goals for patient safety and access to innovative medical products

Download PDF Copy

Reviewed

Reviewed by Megan Craig, M.Sc.Jul 4 2023

A new, visionary Corporate Plan, setting out how the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency plans to keep patients safe by enabling access to innovative, safe and effective medical products over the coming three years, has been published today (4 July 2023).

This plan sets out the central priorities for the agency over the next three years so that it can deliver on this core purpose, by using its breadth of scientific and regulatory expertise, its support for innovation and the risk-proportionate regulation of medical products.

Patients remain at the heart of the agency's focus, with plans to further embed meaningful patient involvement across the agency's regulatory pathways and to develop efficacy and safety information that better meets the needs of all patients.

The agency also plans to pilot public awareness activities to increase patient understanding of the Agency's benefit risk decisions as well as public hearings on major safety issues, so that the experiences of patients and stakeholders can be brought into consideration openly and transparently.

The priorities in the Corporate Plan are to:

Maintain public trust through transparency and proactive communication.
Enable healthcare access to safe and effective medical products.
Deliver scientific and regulatory excellence through strategic partnerships.
Become an agency where people flourish alongside a responsive customer service culture.

The plan sets out the key actions the agency will take to deliver on these priorities, that will transform medical product regulation in the UK. These range from a revised innovation pathway to reduce the time from discovery or development to deployment, to developing and launching a new knowledge hub that will act as a responsive, customer-focused single point of contact for the Agency.

Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive said:

We have set ourselves an ambitious path over the next three years, with clear, measurable aims that will allow us to respond to the evolving challenges that the future holds.

Our world-leading response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated what an agile, flexible regulator can accomplish.

By working in partnership with other regulators and partners at home and abroad, we will transform our regulatory processes, making the UK an attractive home for the global life sciences industry and a place where medical innovation can flourish, so all patients can benefit from the very latest in safe and effective medical products."