08/02/2022
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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced its plans to strengthen regulations for medical devices within the United Kingdom (UK).
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On June 2, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the launch of their Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tool: Elsa. AI has been seen in many parts of the clinical research ecosystem in recent years such as trial and protocol design, participant recruitment, and safety monitoring, all of which have the potential to enhance trial efficiency and safety.
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On December 19th, 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration released the finalized guidance for industry: Processes and Practices Applicable to Bioresearch Monitoring Inspections. The guidance details the processes and practices of Bioresearch Monitoring Program (BIMO) inspections of FDA-regulated establishments NOT specified in existing FDA guides or manuals.
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On September 8th, 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released their final guidance for industry on the ICH E6(R3) Good Clinical Practice (GCP). ICH E6(R3) Principles and Annex 1 were finalized on January 6th, 2025, officially taking over the preceding 2016 ICH E6(R2). Annex 2 is expected to be finalized in early 2026.
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On December 15th, 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the finalized guidance for industry “Investigator Responsibilities — Safety Reporting for Investigational Drugs and Devices”. Unlike most updates, this finalized guidance is replacing the FDA’s recommendations from two separate final guidance documents: “Safety Reporting Requirements for INDs and BA/BE Studies” from 2012 and “Adverse Event Reporting to IRBs—Improving Human Subject Protection” from 2009, both of which are now withdrawn.
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On July 7, 2025, the European Union (EU) Commission and Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S) published an updated draft of Annex 11: Computerised Systems, a supplementary guideline that is part of the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). Although it is GMP focused, the guiding principles of the annex can also be applied to other GxP standards.
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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced its plans to strengthen regulations for medical devices within the United Kingdom (UK).
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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of the United Kingdom (UK) updated their guidance document, “Access to Electronic Health Records (EHR) by Sponsor representatives in clinical trials” in September 2021. Originally released in November 2020, it did not provide adequate guidance on direct remote access of EHR. Other relevant guidance only included small sections on remote monitoring, including the March 2020 guidance describing best practices for managing clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic and the November 2020 guidance describing how to minimize disruptions in the conduction and integrity of clinical trials amid the ongoing pandemic.
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When the Brexit transition period ended at the end of 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) officially left the European Union (EU) single market and customs union. This means that for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679 or GDPR), the UK is a third country with regards to data transfer. As a third country, personal data transfers require additional safeguards. At the beginning of 2021, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into effect. A part of this Agreement includes a provision which allows data transfers to continue without additional mechanisms until an adequacy decision is adopted, for a maximum of six months.
The United Kingdom (UK) notified the European Union (EU) of its intent to withdraw effective March 30, 2019, a process commonly known as Brexit. At that point, it will become a “third country” and will not follow the EU regulations for pharmaceuticals. Negotiations are underway for a withdrawal agreement. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Commission have released guidance related to pharmaceutical companies’ distribution of drugs due to the uncertainty of authorization of a withdrawal agreement.