Search and filter

The Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS) is a UK initiative established by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to provide patients with life-threatening or seriously debilitating conditions access to medicines that do not yet have a marketing authorisation but address unmet medical needs. 

The MHRA provides strict guidelines for importing unlicensed medicinal products (also known as "specials") into the UK. These guidelines ensure the safety and quality of unlicensed medicines and aim to meet the specific needs of individual patients when no suitable licensed options are available.

The Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway was launched in January 2021 by the MHRA to speed up the development and delivery of innovative medicines, and it is due to be relaunched in March 2025. It provides a collaborative framework among the MHRA, the national HTA bodies of the UK and, in the revised ILAP, the National Health Service (NHS). The scheme is designed to streamline access to new therapies that meet unmet medical needs, ensuring transformative treatments reach patients more swiftly.