The MHRA-led Access Consortium 2026 action plan will deepen
collaboration, streamline work sharing, and speed up access to
safe, high-quality medicines for patients across member
countries.
The heads of the regulatory authorities from Australia, Canada,
Singapore, Switzerland and the UK agreed priorities to strengthen
collaboration and improve regulatory efficiency at the first
Access Consortium meeting of 2026 on 30 March 2026, chaired for
the first time by MHRA.
An action plan for 2026 was endorsed to support the GROWTH
manifesto agreed previously, with particular focus on enhancing
work sharing processes.
The Consortium is also developing a shared, secure digital
platform to facilitate information sharing and joint regulatory
work across all five regulatory authorities.
These improvements aim to shorten response times to expressions
of interest and applications submitted through the Access
pathway, to support faster access to high quality, safe and
effective health products across member countries.
Partners agreed to adopt a strategic approach to communications
and engagement, to ensure the Consortium presents a consistent,
open and coordinated voice with industry and wider stakeholders.
In addition, the heads of agencies endorsed several areas for
development including early work towards a regulatory reliance
approach for clinical trials and a new network for scientists
involved in batch testing
Reflecting on the meeting, MHRA Chief Executive Lawrence
Tallon said:
It's a privilege to pick up the baton from SwissMedic to lead
such productive discussions with our Access partners at this
pivotal moment.
Together we are building practical systems and processes that
will help accelerate access to safe, effective and high quality
health products to 150 million patients across our countries,
whilst at the same time staying true to our national regulatory
obligations.
My thanks go to our Access Consortium partners, for their hard
work in driving these improvements and shaping the next phase of
regulatory collaboration.
Background to the Access Consortium
The Access Consortium is a partnership of the five national
regulatory authorities from Australia, Canada, Singapore,
Switzerland and the United Kingdom which work together to promote
greater regulatory collaboration and reduce duplication for
industry.
Originally established in 2007 as the “ACSS Consortium”, the
group expanded in 2020 when the UK joined and adopted the name
“Access”. The UK's MHRA began full participation in work sharing
initiatives from January 2021.
The consortium's vision is to enhance regulatory cooperation to
enable innovation, strengthen trust and speed up access to safe,
effective and high quality medical products for more than 150
million patients across its member states.
Its 2025–2028 strategic plan is underpinned by the GROWTH
manifesto, which sets out commitments in governance, reliance,
openness, work sharing and transformation. Through this work, the
consortium aims to build a harmonised, trusted and
patient-centred global regulatory ecosystem, and to establish
Access as one of industry's preferred pathways for regulatory
submission.
For further information visit the Access Consortium website.
