§ Mr. LoveTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made with plans to hold an international conference for the Harmonisation of Technical Standards for the Registration of Medicinal Products. [83789]
§ Ms JowellThe International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for the Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) was established in 1990 as a joint regulatory/industry project. The aim of the project is to improve, through harmonisation of the regulatory requirements, the efficiency of the process for developing and registering new medicinal products in Europe, Japan and the United States, in order to make these products available to patients with a minimum of delay.
The Fourth International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH 4) was held in Brussels, 16–18 July 1997. Plans for a fifth phase are currently under discussion.