Mexico will host, from August 21 to 23, 2024, in Mexico City, the XI Conference of the Pan American Network on Drug Regulatory Harmonization, during which the 25th anniversary of the PANDRH will also be celebrated.
This meeting, organized by the Government of Mexico, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS), and the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), fosters regional convergence and regulatory strengthening as an enabling factor for innovation, production and efficient regulation of health technologies that promote equitable and timely access to better respond to the health priorities and needs of the region of the Americas.
In a globalized health technology market, strong regulatory systems and regulatory convergence help create efficiencies and minimize barriers to accessing safe, effective and quality medical products.
During the 30th Pan American Sanitary Conference in 2022, PAHO Member States renewed the mandates for strengthening the regulatory systems for medicines and other health technologies in the Region of the Americas, considering the potential role of the regulatory system in promoting the production of health technologies and in response to health emergencies. The promotion of regulatory harmonization and convergence is one of the strategic priorities in the execution of this policy.
In this context, the XI CPANDRH program will include plenary sessions, panels and opportunities for dialogue between participants to facilitate the exchange of ideas and reflections, as well as the generation of recommendations around, among others, the following thematic areas: tools for strengthening regulatory systems; role of regulation in regional innovation and production; regional convergence on specific regulatory functions; use of regulatory decisions from other jurisdictions; regulatory preparedness for epidemics and pandemics; regulation of medical devices; continuous training of human resources in the regulatory field; self-sufficiency in health and integration of the pharmaceutical market; digitalization and artificial intelligence.