{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/6958f2341002b08bc897d1dc/6a92b94763de6f7b4176e51d?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Inside the MHRA ","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6958f2341002b08bc897d1dc/1788006950767-7443e28f-2ae3-49a9-928e-69d056e1fd6b.jpeg?height=200","description":"<blockquote>Welcome to a new series inside My Health Focus: conversations with the MHRA, the body that decides which medicines and vaccines are safe for the UK.</blockquote><blockquote>In this first episode, Catriona Williams talks to Lawrence Tallon, Chief Executive of the MHRA. </blockquote><blockquote>Lawrence opens up about his mother's cancer diagnosis when he was a teenager, and how a clinical trial at Addenbrooke's gave her 12 more years than doctors expected.</blockquote><blockquote> We also cover the new weight-loss pill and why the UK approved it first, what really happened to clinical trial approval times after Brexit, and why women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds are still underrepresented in clinical trials.</blockquote><blockquote>This is the first of several conversations with the MHRA team. Follow the show for the rest of the series.</blockquote><p><strong>Timings:</strong></p><p><br></p><ul><li>00:00 — Intro</li><li>00:58 — Welcome, and what the MHRA actually does</li><li>02:33 — Balancing patient safety against innovation and access</li><li>05:46 — How the MHRA's medical and scientific assessors work with pharma and biotech</li><li>08:07 — The new weight-loss pill: why the UK approved it first</li><li>12:00 — Brexit's impact on approval speed and the UK's standing globally</li><li>12:34 — Covid, budget cuts, and how the MHRA fell behind, then caught up</li><li>15:10 — Lawrence's mother's cancer diagnosis and the clinical trial that gave her 12 more years</li><li>16:55 — Why patients struggle to find and stay in the right clinical trials</li><li>20:47 — Bringing patients into the research process, not just researching on them</li><li>21:08 — How the MHRA can use approval as a lever to demand diversity in trials</li><li>22:04 — The gender gap in clinical trial participation</li><li>23:25 — Ethnicity, Covid vaccine hesitancy, and representative research</li><li>25:29 — Checking for diverse trial populations before granting a licence</li><li>27:22 — Does industry see this as a barrier to getting drugs to market?</li><li>29:03 — Closing thoughts and the road ahead</li><li>29:50 — The football referee analogy: what the MHRA is really there to do</li></ul><p><br></p>","author_name":"Editorial Team - My Health Focus"}