“Diapharm provided us with insights into EU regulatory practice and to some extent, different national implementations.” summarised Safa Ibrahim, responsible for implementing the medical devices regulation at the Egyptian Ministry of Health. GlaxoSmithKline Middle East had facilitated the contact. Dr. Guido Middeler and Dorothee Klöpf from Diapharm were invited to present to approximately 40 participants from various departments of the Ministry, the EU regulations on medical products and their demarcation from herbal medicinal products and nutritional supplements.
To some extent the experts also made a case for approaches that go beyond those of the European Union. “An orientation to the regulatory model of the Global Harmonization Task Force for medical products is to be recommended, on which, the EU, the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan are working” emphasized Dr. Guido Middeler: “In this way, Egypt would directly achieve maximum international harmonization and safer products would be more speedily available.” Among other topics discussed in the Cairo workshop was whether joint solutions that went beyond national borders might be meaningful.
(ca. 1,680 characters)