Abstract
The 6th Middle East Regulatory Conference (MERC), hosted by the Ministry of Health of the United Arab Emirates, took place in Dubai on September 28-30, 2004. This article presents the key proceedings and outcomes of the conference, including details of the closed workshop held with Middle East regulators.
The conference was organized by the Drug Information Association. The program was the initiative of the Middle East Regulatory Network of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Association. Program advisors from Middle East health authorities also contributed to its development. The key topics were: best practice from the global regulatory environment, “Total Quality,” the role of intellectual property rights/data protection, Gulf Central Committee for Drug Registration (GCC-DR) update, the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) Global Cooperation Group, and counterfeit medicines.
Conference attendees included delegates from 12 Middle East regulatory authorities, faculty members from regulatory authorities (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, GCC-DR and Norway), the World Health Organisation, the Centre for Medicines Research International, and the pharmaceutical industry. The conference chairman was Professor Stuart Walker (Centre for Medicines Research International Institute for Regulatory Science, United Kingdom).
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