The Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed), the only regional trade body for the medical devices, equipment and in vitro diagnostics industry, today announced it is joining forces with Duke-NUS Medical School's Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE), the first dedicated Asian Centre targeted at the needs of medical device and pharmaceutical companies, national health regulators, and the biomedical industry, to promote regulatory innovation across the Asia Pacific.
To this effect, CoRE and APACMed signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) today, to foster links and explore opportunities of co-operation in medical technology, with a focus in the areas of capacity building, policy innovation and sustainability. The areas of cooperation include hosting joint scientific roundtables, expert panels, publication of thought leadership, and professional training, as well as capacity building of the regulators and industry in the region.
Associate Professor John Lim, Executive Director of CoRE, and Deputy Director of Medical Services (Industry & Research Matters), Singapore Ministry of Health, said: "While the use of medical devices is an integral part of modern healthcare, medical devices regulation is relatively new and still developing in most Asia Pacific countries. There is a need to enhance the capabilities and competencies of regulatory professionals in national regulatory authorities and the industry. At the same time, we have to strengthen regulatory systems through promoting convergence, effective policy implementation and innovation. CoRE looks forward to this partnership with APACMed to advance these objectives to help ensure that patients across the region have enhanced access to high quality, safe and effective medical devices".
Fredrik Nyberg, Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed) added: "APACMed's mission is to improve standards of care for patients across the region through innovative collaborations among stakeholders to jointly shape the future of healthcare in Asia Pacific. Our collaboration with CoRE is an important step in fostering relationships between the industry, academia and regulatory agencies, and will allow our members to drive regulatory convergence across the region. In particular, we look forward to our forthcoming joint event, the APACMed/CoRE Regulatory Affairs Summit 2017 in November, an exclusive one-day event for regulators and APACMed member companies, which will close APACMed's two-day flagship event, the Asia Pacific MedTech Forum".
