Ireland’s Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), Department of Health, National Office for Research Ethics Committees and Health Research Declaration Committee have agreed on an expedited review process for human trials related to COVID-19.

Under the new agreement, ethical review of COVID-19 human health trials in Ireland must be submitted to the dedicated national research ethics committee (NREC-COV19). The HPRA will give priority and expedited reviews to COVID-19 trials of drugs or medical devices.

Related clinical trial applications should be marked “COVID-19,” and titles of research should also include this term. Emailed applications should copy the HPRA clinical trials (clinicaltrials@hpra.ie) or medical devices (devices@hpra.ie) mailboxes.