The University of Oxford and Moderna Inc. have announced authorization by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to initiate a phase I/II study of mRNA-4194, Moderna’s investigational mRNA-based cancer vaccine for Lynch syndrome.

The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has opened a consultation on changes it is proposing to the legal definition of gene therapies, to reflect the advances in technology and manufacturing over the two decades since the current legislation was drawn up. The aim is to correct the mismatch between regulatory terminology and modern science, which MHRA says “can lead to uncertainty” over how a product is classified and to “inconsistent oversight and potential barriers for developers."

New U.K. clinical trials regulations coming into force today, April 28, aim to reduce the time taken to get approval for studies and introduce a category of lower risk trials which will be automatically assessed in 14 days. The key measure to cut timelines is the Combined Review, under which sponsors will be able to submit a single application for regulatory review by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and ethics review by the Health Research Authority, the body responsible for managing ethics committees.

Wegovy (semaglutide) has passed the notoriously strict cost-effectiveness scrutiny of the U.K. health technology assessment body and will now be reimbursed for the prevention of further serious cardiovascular events in people who have had a heart attack or stroke, or are diagnosed with peripheral arterial disease.

The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is to offer an early review of nonanimal data to give companies more confidence that evidence generated with new approach methodologies, such as organoids and microphysiological systems, will be accepted as part of marketing authorization applications.

U.K. biopharma is working with the country’s space agency and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to plot a route for manufacturing biologic drugs in low earth orbit.

Zelluna ASA has received approvals from the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and research ethics committee for its clinical trial application (CTA) for ZI-MA4-1, Zelluna’s lead T-cell receptor-based natural killer (TCR-NK) product candidate.

Four years after they were first mooted, the finishing line is in sight for new U.K. clinical regulations, which will come into force on April 28. In the first major update since 2004, about 20% of lower-risk studies are expected to be approved by a fast track, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will introduce a 14-day assessment route for phase I healthy volunteer trials, amongst other measures to streamline approvals.

The U.K. Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency provided an update of its guidance for clinical investigations for medical devices and is offering a temporary waiver of the fees for registration of clinical studies to small manufacturers.