Sweden's MPA signs agreement with US FDA

Sweden's Medical Products Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration have signed a mutual confidentiality agreement effective from the end of April 2006. The pact allows both regulatory agencies to share non-public infor-mation, including law-enforcement and internal pre-decisional information.

Gunnar Alvan, the MPA's Director General, described the agreement as "an important milestone." He added: "drug approval processes and drug safety surveillance programs become more global by the day."