ABSTRACT
Background: Regulatory preparedness for public health emergencies is critical. However, responses to past emergencies, such as the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic and medical product shortages, have revealed sizable gaps in countries' regulatory capacity and preparedness. A systematic analysis of the regulatory preparedness of countries around the world has not yet been performed. The purpose of this study was to analyze and document the current regulatory preparedness status, highlight the related gaps and challenges in order to propose strategic, harmonized, and sustainable regulatory solutions to improve future responses to public health emergencies. Methods: From 2016 to 2020, we used the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT), a standardized instrument for identifying national regulatory authorities' strengths and gaps, to analyze the regulatory preparedness of 84 Member States, 95% of which were low- or middle-income countries. We analyzed whether participating Member States had not implemented, displayed ongoing implementation, had partially implemented, or had fully implemented 10 of the GBT's 268 sub-indicators most relevant to regulatory preparedness for public health emergencies. Findings: Only 10 Member States (12%) that underwent benchmarking had fully implemented all 10 sub-indicators related to regulatory preparedness for public health emergencies; 34 (40%) had fully implemented ≥50% of the emergency sub-indicators, and 20 (24%) had not fully implemented any of the sub-indicators. With regard to individual sub-indicators, regulatory preparedness ranged from 19 Member States (23%) fully implementing reliance on clinical trial decisions of others to 45 (59%) fully implementing legal provisions to fast-track (or expedite) marketing authorization applications. Interpretation: Many WHO Member States have limited regulatory preparedness for a public health emergency. Strengthening regulatory systems and promoting Good Regulatory Practices and reliance in these countries, to enable efficient response to emergencies, should be a global health priority.
ABSTRACT
National regulatory authorities (NRAs) are the gatekeepers of the supply chain of medical products, and they have a mandate to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines, vaccines, blood, and blood products, medical devices, including diagnostics and traditional, or herbal medicines. However, the majority of the world's regulators are still struggling to reach a level of maturity, whereby they have a stable, well-functioning and integrated regulatory system. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) as part of its five-step capacity building program to assist NRAs, using the tool, they can benchmark their own strengths and areas of weakness, and then engage in a formal benchmarking process together with WHO and international experts in order to formulate an effective and workable institutional development plan. The GBT is comprehensive across the entire product life cycle and allows benchmarking to be customized to the needs of the NRA. It has evolved from decades of experience using a variety of benchmarking tools, within WHO and other stakeholder organizations. By the end of December 2019, 26 countries had undergone formal benchmarking, and a further 54 countries had used the GBT to conduct self-benchmarking exercises assisted by WHO.
ABSTRACT
Withdrawal of type 2 oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) in OPV-using countries required regulatory approval for use of inactivated poliovirus vaccine and bivalent OPV in routine immunization. Worldwide, a variety of mechanisms were used by member states, with some differences in approach observed between inactivated poliovirus vaccine and bivalent OPV. These included acceptance for use of World Health Organization (WHO) prequalified vaccines, registration and licensure pathways, participation in WHO-convened joint reviews of licensing dossiers, as well as pragmatic application of alternatively available mechanisms, when appropriate. Simple but effective tools were used to monitor progress and to record, authenticate, and share information. Essential to achievement of regulatory targets was ongoing communication with key stakeholders, including switch-country national regulatory authorities, vaccine manufacturers, partner organizations, and relevant units within WHO. Understanding of the regulatory environment gained through the OPV switch can be helpful in supporting further stages of the polio end game and other time-sensitive vaccine introduction programs.
