Medicines Control Agency, Medical Devices Agency will merge into single, as-yet-unnamed entity next April due to increasing convergence in drug, medical device fields, Department of Health announces June 13. Systems and processes by which drugs are licensed, medical devices are controlled will not be affected, but merger will include creation of chairman post to serve as agency's authoritative figurehead and oversee strategic management. Agency also will have a chief executive; current MCA Chief Exec Keith Jones, MD, is leaving his post in October...

While endocrine-disrupting evidence was inconclusive, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety recommends more conservative limits on use of homosalate, octocrylene and benzophenone-3 in cosmetic products compared with current requirements under the European Cosmetics Product Regulation.

The risk of inadvertently growing SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell and gene therapies and possibly infecting patients and workers should be assessed and mitigated, the agency advises.