Earlier this month SafetyCall attended the Canadian Health Food Association’s Natural Organic Wellness (abbreviated CHFA NOW) biannual regulatory conference and tradeshow in Vancouver. We were delighted to see clients and discover a number of new food, cosmetic, and natural health products coming to Canadian and US markets soon.
The one-day regulatory conference highlighted sessions on use of scientific evidence to inform food and nutrition policy; a firsthand perspective of Health Canada’s current operations as they pertain to natural health products; insights from Gowling WLG on recent natural health product audits; a presentation by the Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate (NNHPD) on initiatives and priorities; and a session co-presented by SafetyCall’s Dr. Rick Kingston and the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s Dr. Jim Griffiths on applying the US regulatory model for safety to the Canadian natural health products’ market. Takeaways and highlights included NNHPD’s priority and focus on utilizing safety data to inform further compliance initiatives, as well as industry pushback on the proposal to implement a cost recovery plan to fund these initiatives.
Of particular interest to our clients is the enhanced focus NNHPD will be putting on adverse event reports as they apply to guiding inspections. We would encourage you to notify your SafetyCall client liaison immediately of a planned or spontaneous inspection by a regulatory body. Our staff are well versed in speaking with regulators to help shape and defend the adverse event profile of our client’s products, and immediate notification allows us to best prepare to provide you the assistance you may need.
