Regulatory agenda for self-care products: Towards an agile framework

Self-care products make an important contribution to the health and well-being of Europeans. Individuals want to take greater responsibility for their own health and wellbeing; this combined with learnings from the pandemic and demographic changes that are increasing pressure on the healthcare system requires to advance responsible self-care in order to make European health systems future-proof.

The ability of people to safely and effectively care for themselves can be enhanced by improving the regulatory system governing self-care products. The AESGP Regulatory Conference aims to bring together the self-care industry, legislators and regulators as well as other key stakeholders to discuss how to further improve the current framework for self-care products, notably non-prescription medicines, substance-based medical devices and food supplements.

The following key topics will be discussed in 4 successive sessions:

• The EU Pharmaceutical Strategy, with a particular focus on non-prescription medicines;
• Ongoing challenges in the implementation of the Medical Devices Regulation six months after its date of application, focusing on substance-based medical devices;
• The Self-Care Industry’s commitment to reducing its impact on the environment whilst ensuring the availability of self-care products to individuals;
• The risk assessment of food ingredients;
• The EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability;
• Perspectives on self-care from various European stakeholders.

Ultimately, the conference aims to deliver key, actionable insights into the latest regulatory, legislative and political developments. It will provide an outlook into a future regulatory landscape and its impact on the market.