Investigational Medicine UK 2021 Guidance

Importing investigational medicinal products into Great Britain from approved countries from 1 January 2021

Importing investigational medicinal products for use in clinical trials from 1 January 2021

New rules for January 2021

The UK has left the EU, and the transition period after Brexit comes to an end this year.

This page tells you what you’ll need to do from 1 January 2021. It will be updated if anything changes.

You can also read about the transition period.

Sponsors of UK clinical trials that import investigational medicinal products (IMPs) into Great Britain from outside the UK will need to review their existing supply chains.

Where the product is sourced from a country on the ‘approved country for import list’, this will include a UK Manufacturing and Import Authorisation (MIA(IMP)) holder putting in place an assurance system to check these IMPs have been certified by a Qualified Person (QP) in a listed country, before release to trial sites. The list of approved countries will initially include all EU and EEA countries.

IMPs imported into Great Britain from outside the UK that have been QP certified in a listed country will not require recertification in Great Britain.

The purpose of this guidance is to describe the principles for the management and oversight of the import of IMPs to Great Britain from listed countries. There will be a one-year transition period from 1 January 2021.

Published 1 September 2020