LONDON (Reuters) – The British government has launched a review to speed the path to market for new drugs and medical devices in an attempt to improve patient care and make the country a more attractive place for investment in life sciences.
British manufacturing relies heavily on the pharmaceuticals sector, including domestic giants GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, but companies complain that the state-run National Health Service (NHS) is too slow to adopt new treatments.
The review, announced at a meeting between industry leaders and ministers at Prime Minister David Cameron’s Downing Street office on Thursday, aims to tackle the issue by studying innovative models for drug development.
This will include an examination of the scope for more collaborative work between companies and regulators to ensure that new medicines and devices are assessed more quickly, with greater input from patient groups and charities such as Cancer Research UK.
An independent organization will be appointed to carry out the Innovative Medicines and MedTech Review, starting work early next year and reporting later in 2015.
Read more at Reuters
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