Tanya Rackstraw
JournalHarmonising regulation of medicinal allergen products throughout the European Union – the historic situation and subsequent CMDh guidance
Allergen products in the EU are defined as goods ‘intended to identify or induce a specific acquired alteration in the immunological response to an allergizing agent’. Historically, allergens were authorised under the national frameworks of member states (MS) with some legislation pre-dating the Treaty of Rome in 1957. This led to regulatory problems, such as pharmacovigilance monitoring standards. The Co-ordination Group for Mutual Recognition and Decentralised Procedures – Human (CMDh) addressed these authorisation issues and published a document on recommendations to common regulatory approaches for medicinal allergen products. This article provides an overview of the CMDh guidance, including a summary of some of the responses received during its consultation phase.