Event Round Up: Industry Briefing with Claire Harrison, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at the MHRA
In an industry briefing hosted by techUK, Claire Harrison, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), shared the agency’s strategic journey to becoming an AI-enabled health regulator. The session highlighted MHRA’s evolving role in supporting the UK’s ambition to be a science and technology superpower by 2030, and its commitment to innovation, modernisation, and cyber resilience.
MHRA – Transformation Through Innovation: Becoming an AI-Enabled Health Regulator
In an industry briefing hosted by techUK, Claire Harrison, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), shared the agency’s strategic journey to becoming an AI-enabled health regulator. The session highlighted MHRA’s evolving role in supporting the UK’s ambition to be a science and technology superpower by 2030, and its commitment to innovation, modernisation, and cyber resilience.
You can find the slides from the session here:
Transformation Through Innovation.pptx
About the MHRA
The MHRA is the UK’s regulator for medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion. As a science-led organisation, it plays a critical role in safeguarding public health while enabling innovation. The agency is undergoing a digital transformation to improve regulatory efficiency, enhance public safety, and support the UK’s life sciences sector.
Drivers for Transformation
- Political and public pressure for faster clinical trial assessments
- Rising threats from counterfeit medical products
- Legacy systems and cyber vulnerabilities
- Demand for smarter, faster, and safer regulatory tools
- Alignment with national and global tech strategies
- Ethical and safety concerns around AI
- A shift from supplier-driven delivery to strategic partnerships
Strategic Themes
MHRA’s technology roadmap is anchored in three strategic themes:
- Innovation: Leveraging AI across the product lifecycle—from clinical trials to post-market surveillance—to improve decision-making and productivity.
- Tech Modernisation: Replacing outdated systems with scalable, interoperable infrastructure.
- Cyber Resilience: Embedding security by design and using advanced technologies to defend against threats.
These themes are underpinned by three guiding principles:
Digital by Default. Secure by Design. Prove by Doing.
AI Use Cases and Impact
MHRA has identified over 20 AI use cases across its operations, including:
- Clinical Trials: AI tools to validate and assess trial applications
- Enforcement: AI-powered detection of illicit online sellers—reducing a 30-hour task to 3 hours
- Pharmacopoeia Enquiries: AI assistants streamlining query handling
- Decision Support: Algorithms to ensure consistency and prioritise high-risk products
- Corporate Services: HR chatbots and productivity tools
These solutions have delivered significant time savings, improved consistency, and enhanced regulatory agility. For example, initial assessment times have been reduced by up to 99.8%, saving hundreds of hours weekly.
Sustainability and Green IT
MHRA is also committed to sustainable computing through its Code Green initiative. Recognising the environmental impact of AI and cloud technologies, the agency is taking steps to reduce its digital carbon footprint through server optimisation, power consumption reduction, and best practice engineering.
Feedback and Collaboration
The MHRA’s transformation is collaborative, involving internal teams, cross-government partnerships, and international regulators. The agency welcomes feedback from industry stakeholders to refine its approach and ensure its digital solutions remain relevant, secure, and impactful.
For more information or to get involved, please contact [email protected]
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