ABPI response to UK joining Project Orbis and Access Consortium

The UK is set to join two initiatives bringing together some of the world’s leading regulators to allow pharmaceutical companies to submit medicines to be reviewed by several countries at the same time.

The two schemes are:

1. Project Orbis A programme coordinated by the US Food and Drug Administration involving Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Singapore and Brazil to review and approve promising cancer treatments. 
2. Access Consortium A programme involving Australia, Canada, Switzerland and Singapore to help secure improved patient access to high-quality, safe and effective medicines. 

In response, Dr Sheuli Porkess, Executive Director, Research, Medical and Innovation at the ABPI, said:

"The UK Government’s ambition to speed up access to new medicines to the UK is good news for NHS patients, and collaborations such as Project Orbis can support that ambition.

"The MHRA can play a global role to drive innovation and set standards to make the UK the best place in the world to research, develop and use new medicines and this will require close collaboration and partnership will many global regulators.

"Alongside this international collaboration, reaching a deal with the EU, including an MRA on medicines, is the best outcome for patients and the pharmaceutical industry in the UK and Europe."