Executive agency overview | |
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Formed | 1 April 2003 |
Preceding agencies |
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Headquarters |
London, United Kingdom 51°29′35.3538″N 0°8′47.1366″W / 51.493153833°N 0.146426833°W |
Minister responsible |
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Executive agency executives |
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Parent department | Department of Health |
Child agencies | |
Website | www |
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is an executive agency of the Department of Health in the United Kingdom which is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe.
The MHRA was formed in 2003 with the merger of the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) and the Medical Devices Agency (MDA). In April 2013, it merged with the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) and was rebranded, with the MHRA identity being used solely for the regulatory centre within the group. The agency employs over 1,200 people.
The MHRA is divided into three main centres:
In 1999, the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) took over control of the General Practice Research Database (GPRD) from Office for National Statistics. Medicines Control Agency (MCA) and the Medical Devices Agency (MDA) merged in 2003 to form the MHRA. In April 2012, the GPRD was expanded and relaunched as the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). In April 2013, the MHRA merged with the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) and was rebranded, with the MHRA identity being used for the parent organisation and one of the centres within the group. At the same time the CPRD was formally declared a separate centre of the MHRA, too.
MHRA hosts and supports a number of expert advisory bodies, including the Commission on Human Medicine which replaced the Committee on the Safety of Medicines in 2005, and the British Pharmacopoeia Commission.