MEXICO

On August 25 and 26, the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (COFEPRIS in Spanish) held two regional cooperation events on sanitary matters. On the one hand, together with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), it set up the Regulatory Optimization Committee to issue opinions on modifications to the entity’s regulations. It also held the Regional Meeting for the Strengthening of Productive Capacities in Health Regulation, which will seek to promote collaboration in the implementation of cooperation mechanisms.

At the meeting for the installation of the Regulatory Optimization Committee, Alejandro Svarch Perez, as head of COFEPRIS, stated that the simplification of regulatory procedures and the process to apply regulatory convergence with regional counterpart agencies will be a top priority. The Committee session also focused on the creation of an information system on the processes for products regulated by the entity and future reliance measures to be implemented with reference agencies in Latin America.

At the Regional Meeting, Mexico’s Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, stated that regional governments must cooperate with each other in order to exercise health regulation that involves private initiative and the pharmaceutical production sectors to facilitate access to health inputs for the population.

Finally, Svarch Perez proposed three lines of collaboration between regional health agencies: providing tools to expand regulatory capacities; promoting the transfer of knowledge and implementation of new regulatory technologies; and establishing sanitary authorization mechanisms to facilitate the entry and exit of drugs needed in the context of the pandemic.