FDA Now Recognizes Inspections of Eight EU Countries

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration effective Nov. 1 will recognize the inspections of eight European drug regulatory authorities in Austria, Croatia, France, Italy, Malta, Spain, Sweden, and the U.K.

The announcement, made Oct. 31, means that the FDA will be able to free up resources to focus on drug manufacturing facilities across the globe with potentially greater public health risks. Prioritization of inspection resources will help identify potential drug quality problems and prevent poor quality drugs from entering the U.S. market, the agency said.

Until now, the EU and the FDA would sometimes inspect the same facilities each year ...