Medicines and Medical Devices Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to:
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Ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of the global
life sciences industry after Brexit, giving patients faster
access to innovative medicines and supporting the growth of our
domestic sector.
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Allow the UK to take a lead role in global research to
find cures for rare diseases and improve treatments for
patients around the world.
The main benefits of the Bill would
be:
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Making it simpler for NHS hospitals to manufacture and
trial the most innovative medicines and diagnostic
devices.
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Enabling the UK to be a world leader in the licensing and
regulation of innovative medicines and devices, ensuring
patients have access to the best possible treatments and
supporting our domestic life sciences industry.
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Ensuring that we can update legislation relating to
medical devices, medicines, veterinary medicines, new
innovative practices and clinical trials both in response to
patient safety concerns and as we agree the future global
relationship of the UK in these areas.
The main elements of the Bill are:
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Powers to remove unnecessary bureaucracy for the lowest
risk clinical trials, encouraging the rapid introduction of new
medicines.
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Ensuring patient safety by implementing a scheme to
combat counterfeit medicines entering supply chains and a
registration scheme for online sellers.
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Enabling Government to increase the range of professions
able to prescribe low-risk medicines to make the most effective
use of the NHS workforce, as well as developing more innovative
ways of dispensing medicines, where recommended by scientific
experts.
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Extending our global lead in personalised medicine and
Artificial Intelligence in health. Our regulators, the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the
Veterinary Medicines Directorate, will be able to develop
innovative regulation to enable early access to cutting edge
technologies and break new ground in complex clinical
trials.
Territorial extent and application
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The Bill's provisions would extend and apply to the whole
of the UK. Human and veterinary medicines are reserved in the
case of Scotland and Wales, but are devolved to Northern
Ireland.
Key facts
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The Life Sciences sector, encompassing pharmaceuticals,
medical devices and medical technology, is worth over £74
billion per annum. The sector also employs close to 250,000
people.
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In 2018, there were more than 950 UK clinical trials of
investigational medicinal products.
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We have created the Accelerated Access Collaborative to
increase the use of 12 proven technologies and treatments
within the NHS, which have the potential to benefit up to
500,000 patients and save the NHS up to £30 million.
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And we have launched not one, but two Life Science Sector
Deals, which include over £500 million of Government funding
and over £2 billion of industry investment leveraged through
new partnerships and strategic commitments to secure the future
of the UK’s life sciences sector.
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In September the Prime Minister announced a £200 million
investment programme to support the very best and most
innovative life sciences companies. This is expected to
leverage a further £400 million in private sector investment
and will help ensure the UK life sciences sector remains
dynamic and robust.
