GHTF Conference In Brief

Permanent GHTF Secretariat?: Steering Committee of the Global Harmonization Task Force has established a working group to "investigate the feasibility of establishing a single, permanent location for the GHTF secretariat," outgoing task force Chair Rita Maclachlan, Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia), tells attendees at the GHTF ninth annual conference in Singapore May 15. The current practice of rotating the secretariat every 18 months between the five GHTF founding members has become "increasingly difficult" in terms of "efficiency" and maintaining a "coordinate knowledge base," Maclachlan explains. The working group will consider a number of options, including continuing the current arrangement, and has "already identified a number of key issues, including the hosting or location, governance and funding for a permanent secretariat"...