The International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities (ICDRAs) provide drug regulatory authorities of WHO Member States with a forum to meet and discuss ways to strengthen collaboration. The ICDRAs have been instrumental in guiding regulatory authorities, WHO and interested stakeholders and in determining priorities for action in national and international regulation of medicines, vaccines, biomedicines and herbals.

The conferences have been held since 1980 with the aim of promoting exchange of information and collaborative approaches to issues of common concern. As a platform established to develop international consensus, the ICDRA continues to be an important tool for WHO and drug regulatory authorities in their efforts to harmonize regulation and improve the safety, efficacy and quality of medicines.

Regulatory authorities are continually faced with new issues - such as globalization and extension of free trade - while increased responsibilities from expansion of the market and the improvement and sophistication of products place heavy demands on regulatory systems and knowledge bases. The development of cutting edge technologies and health care techniques and extensive use of the Internet impose further complex challenges.

The ICDRA programme is developed by a planning committee of representative drug regulators. Topics discussed during the four days of the ICDRA, may include quality issues, herbal medicines, homeopathy, regulatory reform, medicines safety, counterfeiting, access, regulation of clinical trials, harmonization, new technologies and e-commerce. Recommendations are proposed for action among agencies, WHO and related institutions.

Extraordinary (virtual) International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities (ICDRA)

20 to 24 September 2021

The World Health Organization held an extraordinary International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities (ICDRA) on September 2021. This virtual conference gave the opportunity to the global regulatory community and other key stakeholders to exchange information, best practices and collaborative approaches related to regulation of medical products, especially important during the current challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision for the extraordinary ICDRA was taken as the planned 2020 ICDRA which should have taken place in India had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. The conference is intended to bridge to the 19^th ICDRA, which will be organised in India in 2022, when situation permits.

The theme of the Extraordinary (Virtual) Conference was “Smart Regulation: Timely Delivery of Quality Assured Medical Products for All during the Global Pandemic”. The Conference was held virtually with daily sessions of two hours from 13:00 to 15:00 (CET) from Monday 20 to Friday 24 September 2021.

• Extraordinary (Virtual) ICDRA - Presentations and Recommendations

18th ICDRA recommendations