Changes At Israel's Drug Authority

Israel's Ministry of Health is reported to have had no success so far in its search for a new director for its Pharmacy Division, with none of the candidates applying for the position deemed to be suitable, according to the Marketletter's Jerusalem correspondent.

Over the last six years, the Division has seen five directors come and go, and during the same period the Ministry has also had five different Ministers and four Directors-General.

The Pharmacy Division has two areas of responsibility, firstly for the registration of pharmaceuticals and devices to be produced and/or placed on the Israeli market, and also for the supervision of a range of pharmacy regulations which relate to the operating standards of pharmacies, warehouses and factories on a regional basis. The MoH has said in the past that it wishes to reorganize the Division and the operation of the regional pharmacists, and it has in recent years expanded the Division's activities to include the registration of devices. It has also increased the Divisional workforce at its headquarters in Jerusalem.