The weird debate about drug approval and Brexit that is currently going is interesting for several regulatory aspects (thread)
1) The headlines "first in the race" show the enormous pressure on a regulatory regime set up to be independent and evaluate thoroughly.
If this were a race in which being first is the most important thing, Russia would have won. A reminder: this is not the point of approval.
Fortunately I have faith in the MHRA. I believe they work well. The best way to destroy them, though, is to start regarding drug approval as a race in which the first one wins.
2) From an EU - federalist regulatory point of view the discussion is interesting because it makes us look up the powers of national drug authorities under the current EU system.
Curiously under EU law national Marketing Authorization Applications (MAAs) still exist. And as @GeorgePeretzQC has looked this up, I do not have to: national regulators can approve the corona vaccines under EU law as it currently stands.
This shows the curious nature of EU federalism as opposed to a federal state: Länder/states/cantons would not replicate a federal infrastructure. But in a supranational entity states are reluctant to let go of things regarding national security or emergencies.
3) So what does all of this mean for the debate:
Resist easy attempts at dramatization. Look at content and detail.
(I apologise that this is neither a pro- nor an anti-Brexit thread. I don't tend to do those, but you will see no lack of them on the internet, so feel free to look elsewhere)

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More from @hhesterm

2 Dec
Why go for full approval v emergency procedures? A short thread
From the public health perspective the issue is one of confidence. We can only stop the pandemic if enough people have faith in the vaccine - that has been widely reported.
Not taking shortcuts is an argument here. Emergency procedures do take shortcuts.
That's not an easy decision.
Read 4 tweets
30 Nov
Some home truths about the time left to negotiate an EU-UK FTA if we want one in place by January. Or in short: Why we're reaching the end of the road. (Thread)
Any deal - to come into force - must either be ratified or enter into force provisionally. @GeorginaEWright has written a very good overview, so I can focus on "as fast as possible". instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/ratifying…
Ratification takes time. So let's go with provisional application. How does that work?
Read 28 tweets
28 Nov
We know very little about what’s going on at the Brexit table, but yesterday @tconnellyRTE reported movement on fish.
Read carefully. What does this mean?
Read 9 tweets
23 Nov
This is wrong. It is utterly common for an FTA to add “unrelated conditions” about domestic regulation. Even the WTO Agreements contain an agreement on intellectual property. CPTPP has stuff on IP, environment, labour, regulatory coherence. Etc. Etc.
One of the curious issues in this regard is the term “unrelated”. When the WTO’s IP Agreement “TRIPS” was negotiated, this was a big issue. “TR” stands for “trade-related”.
Developing countries tried to take a stand - they said “we first want to know what trade-related IP rights are - and which ones aren’t”. But they lost that debate. TRIPS is a general IP agreement. “Trade-related” came to mean something more nebulous.
Read 8 tweets
19 Nov
To those worried that 600+ pages signal concern, a short illustration of the length of trade agreements. You remember CPTPP? The one we have decided to like? OK. Let’s go there. You might have thought that it’s short and sweet, as NZ lists this 9-pager as CPTPP, right? (Thread)
Well. Look at it. It incorporates TPP. That’s Art. 1. So let’s look at what that means. Here’s the NZ website. A loooong page. Full with links. That are part of the text. How long you ask? /3 mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-…
Read 6 tweets
19 Nov
The Trade Committee's report on UK-Japan - the Committee considers a debate as critical. Allow me to reinforce that argument with some detail. (Thread)
The Committee rightly states that UK-Japan and EU-Japan are largely similar, but differ in some respects. Let me identify one of those aspects: Intellectual Property law. /2
This is what the Committee writes in that regard: the UK-Japan FTA goes beyond the EU-Japan one. But what does this mean? /3
Read 13 tweets

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