French set up expert groups on emerging technology:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The French healthcare products safety agency, AFSSaPS, has set up three expert groups to ensure that it has at its fingertips the necessary responses to problems related to cutting-edge developments in healthcare techniques and materials. The first will assess applications for gene therapy clinical trials, investigate any "undesirable effects" of such investigations and give an opinion on any related questions likely to arise in biomedical research. The second, on cell therapy (excluding haematopoietic stems cells intended for haematopoietic reconstitution) will have a similar brief. The third is a working group on non-clinical aspects of healthcare products, which will review the techniques used in toxicology to define good practice requirements that may eventually be incorporated into new regulations.