Regulatory conference addresses regional public health issues

SINGAPORE -- The Asia Regulatory Conference 2013, a major conference in the fields of medical product development and regulations, is being hosted by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) in Singapore for the first time. The three-day conference, which runs until 30 January, was co-organised by HSA, the Drug Information Association (DIA) and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (IFPMA).

Themed “Regulatory Convergence and Cooperation to Improve Access and Quality”, the conference brought together over 300 experts from health authorities, pharmaceutical companies and academia across almost 30 countries in the Americas, Asia and Europe to exchange views and identify specific areas to enhance patient access to new and improved medicines.

Among the key topics covered at the conference are issues of global significance, including how regulators and industry can work together to enable faster patient access to safe and better medicine, ensuring viability of global supply chains, the importance of post-market and active surveillance, and combating the problem of counterfeit health products. 

Collaboration to safeguard and enhance public health

In recent years, the Asian region has experienced very fast growth in global drug development activities, encouraged by various initiatives and incentives from countries in this region. Many multi-national pharmaceutical corporations and global contract research organisations are now operating in Asia, and drug development is undergoing constant growth and advancement. The diversity of the region and the spectrum of different demographic and socio-economic settings allow for medicines to be developed for disease conditions in developed and developing countries.

Over the last few decades, the world has also seen a significant change in disease demographics, and some communicable diseases like tuberculosis have re-emerged with strains that are resistant to conventional treatments. Other emerging diseases like H1N1 and SARS have also posed increasing challenges to our healthcare systems.

“Countries like Japan, Korea and Singapore face the increasing challenge of appropriately managing the healthcare needs of a rapidly ageing population and the rising incidence of chronic diseases. It is therefore important to look at more public-private partnerships to ensure better utilisation of resources to meet national healthcare needs, as well as to create the right environment for ongoing life science innovation. Greater collaboration among industry players and regulators will not only ensure mojordan Release Dates