SINGAPORE, Nov. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed), representing manufacturers and suppliers of medical equipment, devices and in-vitro diagnostics, industry associations, and other key stakeholders in the medical technology industry, was today named an Official Liaison member of the Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP), a voluntary group of regulators and industry members, whose goal is to promote harmonisation of medical device regulations in the region.
This marks a milestone for the Singapore-based regional trade association, whose mission is to improve the standard of care for patients through innovative collaboration among stakeholders to jointly shape the future of healthcare in Asia.
"Over the last two years, APACMed has established itself as a key player on the international scene. The association is represented at APEC RHSC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Regulatory Harmonisation Steering Committee) as Industry Coalition Lead, and is also a member of GMTA (Global Medical Technology Alliance). It also counts many local associations such as MTAA (Medical Technology Association of Australia), SMF (Singapore Manufacturing Federation) and AMMI (Association of Malaysian Medical Industries) as its members. We look forward to collaborating with the association to achieve our mission to promote regulatory harmonisation for medical devices in Asia and beyond," said AHWP Chair Dr. Hee-kyo Jeong, Director-General of Medical Device Evaluation Department, Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS).
"We are delighted to be partnering with AHWP. Under the leadership of its Chair, Dr. Hee-kyo Jeong, the AHWP has expanded its memberships and is expected to have an impressive thirty countries as member economies. APACMed's strength lies in both its broad industry representation, from SMEs to MNCs across the region, and its solid relationships with regulatory authorities, healthcare professionals and academics. We hope that bringing this collective expertise closer to AHWP members will enable us to make a significant contribution to harmonisation and support the regulatory capacity building efforts in the region," said Fredrik Nyberg, Chief Executive Officer, APACMed.
APACMed was named as Official Liaison Member during the 21st AHWP Annual Meeting held in Cebu, Philippines. The program for this year includes Capacity Building Training; workshops addressing specific topics such as standards and clinical evaluation. In addition, Korea MFDS has sponsored the Korea Regulatory Session for this annual meeting. "We are committed to supporting member economies in the process of developing or establishing a medical device regulatory system, and we hope that sharing our country's regulatory best practice with them will be beneficial," explained Dr. Jeong-Rim Lee, TC Co-Chair of AHWP from Korea MFDS.
Notes to Editors:
About the AHWP
Founded in 1999, the Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP) is established as a non-profit organization. Its goals are to study and recommend ways to harmonize medical device regulations in the Asian and other regions and to work in coordination with the Global Harmonization Task Force, APEC and other related international organizations aiming at establishing harmonized requirements, procedures and standards. The Working Party is a group of experts from the medical device regulatory authorities and the medical device
About APACMed
Founded in 2014, the Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed) is the first and only regional association to provide a unified voice for the medical technology industry in Asia Pacific. APACMed works proactively with bilateral, regional and local government bodies to shape policies, demonstrate the value of innovation and promote regulatory harmonization. APACMed engages with medical device associations and companies in Asia Pacific to jointly advance regional issues such as access, innovation and collaboration to improve standards of care for patients.
Media enquiries
Se-il Park
Executive Deputy Secretary General of AHWP Secretariat
Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP)
parkseil@korea.kr
+82 43 230 0523
Website: http://www.ahwp.info
Emilie Rapley Mills
Communications Manager
Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed)
erapley@apacmed.org
+65 6816 3180
Follow us on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/apacmed
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asia-pacific-medical-technology-association
Website: http://www.apacmed.org/
