GHTF (Global Harmonization Task Force) begins to realise its potential as a variety of protocols emerge for discussion and implementation

Representatives of the Global Harmonization Task Force took advantage of the Eighth Global Medical Device Conference to promote their work and its positive impact on companies' day-to-day business in a global marketplace. Maureen Kenny reports on the group's achievements and challenges. The Global Harmonization Task Force (GHTF), which was set up in 1992 with the ultimate aim of achieving a single global regulatory system for medical devices, has been accused of being a "small, cosy club of regulators and manufacturers talking amongst themselves". But, as Michael Gropp, chief compliance officer at Guidant and a member of one of the GHTF's four study groups, told the conference in Cancun, Mexico, last month, there are "a number of substantial examples where, while it's still early, the work of GHTF has had a significant influence".