The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 272 No 7297 p531
1 May 2004

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News summary

MHRA publishes its first corporate plan and aims to tackle medicines information

Improving the quality of information available to the public about medicines is a key initiative set out by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the first ever five-year corporate plan it has published (PDF 180K).

The plan explains how the agency intends to meet the objectives set by the Government, drive forward the public health agenda and ensure that European legislation matches UK needs.

Seven initiatives are set out, including increasing the availability of medicines and medical devices so that patients are able to make choices about their own health care. This will include increasing the number of products that are available without a prescription, developing the role of pharmacists in chronic disease management and extending prescribing and supply rights to non-medical professionals.

The agency also aims to improve the availability of medicines for children, implement changing European legislation, take a central role in regulating and controlling tissue-based therapies, enhance adverse event reporting and minimise regulatory costs.