Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the resources available to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to reduce the time it takes for new drugs to enter the market.

The Government is committed to providing the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) the resources it needs. It is funded predominately by charging fees to industry for the services it delivers, with additional funding being provided by the Department.

Departmental funding to MHRA is set in advance through collaborative spending review processes which consider the agency’s needs in detail. The Agency also regularly consults on its fees to ensure all costs involved in delivery are recovered.

The Agency is taking significant steps to assess licensing applications within the shortest time possible. It is working to reduce timelines by bringing in additional resources and developing processes that will result in significantly improved response times, while protecting patient safety.

As an effective regulator, it is committed to the highest of standards of performance and delivering the right outcomes for patients and public health. These changes are already resulting in improvements.