How effective is the UK's MHRA at protecting patients? by Jim Thomson

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the government agency responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices are safe for UK patients to use. It is responsible (and accountable) for taking the necessary action to protect the public from counterfeit and substandard medicines.

However, with a dramatic increase in the number of counterfeit medicines being seized by customs authorities across Europe (2.7 million pharmaceutical items seized in 2006 compared to 500,000 items in 20051), Jim Thomson, chairman of the European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines, asks: are patients in the UK safe?

The EAASM is a new, pan-European safety initiative campaigning for the exclusion of counterfeit and substandard medicines from the supply chain, on which more information can be found at: www.eaasm.eu.