Product Licences of Right PLR

The products already on the market on 1 September 1971, the date for implementation of the Medicines Act, were given the Product Licences of Right (PLR) that were subject to a review process at a later date. This proposal for review of PLRs is reminiscent of the FDA contract with the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council (NAS/NRC) in 1966, to evaluate the effectiveness of some 4000 different drug formulations approved on the basis of safety alone between 1938 and 1962 - the year of the Kefauver-Harris Amendment. 

At the start of product licensing in the United Kingdom in 1971, products already on the market were granted Product Licences of Right (PLRs), which were subject to review. Between 1971 and 1982,22 376 lapsed or were revoked or suspended, and 598 had been converted to full product licenses. The Committee of Review of Medicines was deemed to have completed its work in 1991 and was disestablished on 31 March 1992. 

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