The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) is a committee of the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. It was formed in October 2005, and assumed the responsibilities of the

Medicines Commission The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) is a committee of the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. It was formed in October 2005, and assumed the responsibilities of the Medicines Commission and the Committee on Safety of Med ...

and the

Committee on Safety of Medicines The Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) was an independent advisory committee that advised the UK Licensing Authority on the quality, efficacy, and safety of medicines. Following the thalidomide tragedy of 1957 to 1961, in 1963 the government ...

. Membership in this various and extensive body is listed o
a governmental website
The CHM's responsibilities include advising the UK government ministers on matters relating to regulation of human medicinal products, giving advice in relation to the safety, quality and efficacy of human medicinal products, and promoting the collection and investigation of information relating to adverse reactions for human

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

Background to the establishment

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency undertook a public consultation on proposals to amend the advisory body structure laid down in the

Medicines Act 1968 The Medicines Act 1968 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, more properly: An Act to make new provision with respect to medicinal products and related matters, and for purposes connected therewith. It governs the control of medicines for ...

in February 2005. Ministers agreed to a new structure with the establishment of the Commission that amalgamated the responsibilities of the Medicines Commission and the Committee on Safety of Medicines. The commission was established under Section 2 of the Medicines Act 1968 (SI 2005 No. 1094).

Expert Advisory Groups

The work done by the CHM is parcelled out to Expert Advisory Groups (EAGs), which in effect constitute a subcommittee structure. The EAG chairs and members are also required to follow the

NHS Code of Practice The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. There are three statutory EAGs, namely Pharmacovigilance; Chemistry, Pharmacy and Standards; Biologicals/Vaccines, are appointed by the

NHS Appointments Commission The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England, and one of the four National Health Service systems in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest single-payer healthcare system in the world after the ...

because they are also standing members of the commission. A list of other EAGs, as they were on 16 May 2011, is given below. *Anti-infectives / HIV / Hepatology *Biologicals / Vaccines *Cardiovascular / Diabetes / Renal / Respiratory / Allergy *Chemistry, Pharmacy and Standards *Clinical Trials *Dermatology / Rheumatology / Gastroenterology / Immunology *Medicines for Women's Health *Neurology / Pain Management / Psychiatry *Oncology and Haematology *Paediatric Medicines *Patient Information *Pharmacovigilance

Terms of reference

The duties of the Commission which came into being on 30 October 2005 are set out in Section 3 of the Medicines Act 1968, as amended by the Medicines (Advisory Bodies) Regulations 2005 and include the following: * to advise ministers on matters relating to human medicinal products, except those that fall under the remit of

Advisory Board on the Registration of Homoeopathic Products Advisory may refer to: * Advisory board, a body that provides advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation * Boil-water advisory, a public health directive given by government to consumers when a community's drinking wate ...

(ABRH) and

Herbal Medicines Advisory Committee A herbal is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their medicinal, tonic, culinary, toxic, hallucinatory, aromatic, or magical powers, and the legends associated with them.Arber, p. 14. A herbal m ...

(HMAC); * to advise the Licensing Authority (LA) where the LA has a duty to consult the commission or where the LA chooses to consult the Commission including giving advice in relation to the safety, quality and efficacy of human medicinal products; * to consider representations made in relation to the commission's advice (either in writing or at a hearing) by an applicant or by a licence or marketing authorisation holder; * to promote the collection and investigation of information relating to adverse reactions for human medicines (except for those products that fall within the remit of ABRH or HMAC) for the purposes of enabling such advice to be given.

Chairs

The first Chairman of the Committee on Safety of Medicines was Sir

Derrick Dunlop Sir Derrick Melville Dunlop FRSE FRCP FRCPE FRCSE FDS LLD QHP (3 April 1902-9 June 1980) was a senior Scottish physician and pharmacologist at the forefront of British medical administration and policy-making in the late 20th century. He created ...

. Other Chairmen are listed at

. The chairs of the Commission on Human Medicines have been * 2005–2012. Professor Sir

Gordon Duff Sir Gordon William Duff, (born 27 December 1947) is a British medical scientist and academic. He was Principal of St Hilda's College, Oxford, from 2014 to 2021. He was Lord Florey Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Sheffiel ...

* 2013-date. Professor Stuart Ralston

References

External links

* {{Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom Pharmacy organisations in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2005 Clinical pharmacology 2005 establishments in the United Kingdom Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government