Pharmaceuticals department

Responsibility of the Office of Public Health for Drugs

The Office of Public Health is responsible in the area of medicinal products for:

• Medicines
• Blood
• Human tissues and cells
• Narcotics

Duties of the Medicines Division of the Office of Public Health (incomplete)

Listed below are the tasks performed by the Medicines Division of the Office of Public Health:

• Permission to manufacture and wholesale medicinal products
• Granting retail trade permits  
• Regular monitoring of manufacturers, wholesalers and retail establishments through inspections
• Issuance of GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice)
certificates
• Supervision of narcotics
• Permission to handle narcotics
• Granting authorization to take blood samples for transfusions or for the manufacture of therapeutic products
• Permission to handle human tissues and cells
• General market surveillance
• Authorization of medicinal products within the scope of the EEA
• Cooperation with Swiss and European medicinal product authorities

International cooperation

The following are the international collaborations:

• Collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products SwissmdicLink to website of Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products Swissmedic
• Cooperation with EEA member states: like Norway and Iceland, among others, Liechtenstein sits as an observer on the EU Pharmaceutical Committee and on the Management Board of the European Medicines Agency (EMA)link to EMA website
• Collaboration under PIC/S link to PIC/S website

Agreements with third countries

Listed below are the agreements with third countries:

• MRAs (Mutual Recognition Agreements) are agreements on the mutual recognition of conformity assessments of certain industrial products that are subject to mandatory testing and certification upon market entry. Mutual recognition of such conformity assessments is intended to facilitate trade and market access for the regulated products. Each Party may have the products inspected, tested and certified in its own country for conformity with the importing country's regulations prior to export. The Parties recognize these tests and certificates issued by another Party's contractually designated conformity assessment bodies. Time-consuming and costly duplicate testing can thus be avoided. However, MRA's do not lead to an adoption or harmonization of product regulations.
• EEA countries MRAs with annexes for GMP (good manufacturing practice of medicinal products) exist with Canada, Australia and New Zealand.