In his Spring Budget today, 15 March, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt has announced future changes for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The MHRA will receive £10 million extra funding over two years to maximise its use of Brexit freedoms and accelerate patient access to treatments. This will allow, from 2024, the MHRA to introduce new, swift approvals systems, speeding up access to treatments already approved by trusted international partners (expected to be the US, the EU and Japan) and ground-breaking technologies such as cancer vaccines and AI therapeutics for mental health.
Also announced as part of the Spring Budget are:
- All of the recommendations from Sir Patrick Vallance’s review into pro-innovation regulation of digital technologies, published alongside Spring Budget today, are to be accepted.
- £900 million of funding for an AI Research Resource and an exascale computer – making the UK one of only a handful of countries to have one – and a commitment to £2.5 billion ten-year quantum research and innovation programme through the government’s new Quantum Strategy.
