PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Mar 15, CMC – The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency Caribbean Regulatory System (CARPHA/CRS) says it has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with Guyana and the sub-regional Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

The CARPHA/CRS is a new value-added service to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states to help them review and monitor the efficacy, safety, and quality of medicines sold within their borders.

The initiative aims to fast-track the approval of known high-quality essential generic medicines, through faster review timelines, and by giving companies a single portal of entry to CARICOM markets of roughly 17 million people.

CARPHA said CARICOM states face capacity challenges in regulation of medicines, including having large backlogs and wait times for product approvals, and limited to no quality/safety monitoring of medicines in use by patients.

“The signing of the MOU with the Government of Guyana allows for stronger engagement with the CARPHA/CRS, including on sharing information and processing decisions.

“The MOU with OECS/PPS is important because many in the OECS group do not have regulatory authorities of their own, and the MOU allows the OECS/PPS to both procure CRS recommended products, and to share quality/safety related information,” CARPHA/CRS said.

It said further, the OECS/PPS MOU gives industry using the CRS access to the OECS/PPS pharmaceutical procurement market with an annual value of an estimated eight million US dollars.

The OECS groups the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.