SG, Japan ink regulatory deal to fast-track medicine access by up to six months

It gives both entities a formal mechanism to collaborate.

Singapore's Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) aiming to speed up access to new medicines.

The MOC covers collaboration in facilitating reliance on health products and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) inspections for pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The arrangement is expected to remove an average of three duplicative inspections per year and improve medicine access timelines by up to six months.

The MOC also gives both entities a formal mechanism to collaborate across different stages of the product lifecycle to strengthen regulatory reliance and support innovation.