The European Union and United States Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) highlights the desire of both sides to reduce barriers and increase trade in the pharmaceutical sector and allow medicines to come to market faster and with less associated cost, including allowing for the reallocation of resources which are no longer needed due to the procedures approved under the MRA, such as batch testing waivers.
The MRA is an exciting step towards greater harmonisation, ease of access and more efficient importation of key medicines into the EU for the benefit of its patients. It will be interesting to see how Brexit - no-deal, hard or soft - will impact on the advantages the MRA brings to the EU and whether the UK can strive to access these benefits for its patients in an "imminent" post-Brexit world.