and test medicines to address quality defects and to monitor the safety and quality of unlicensed products. Investigate internet sales and potential counterfeiting of medicines, and prosecute where necessary. Regulate clinical trials of medicines and medical devices. Monitor and ensure compliance with statutory obligations relating to medicines and medical devices. Promote safe use of medicines and devices. Manage the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and the British Pharmacopoeia. The MHRA hosts and supports a number of expert advisory bodies, including the British Pharmacopoeia Commission, and the Commission on Human Medicine which replaced the Committee on the Safety of Medicines in 2005. The MHRA manages the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS), which was created in 2014 to allow access to medicines prior to market authorisation where there is a clear unmet medical need. European Union Prior to the UK's departure from the European Union in January 2021, the MHRA was part of the European system of approval. Under this system, national bodies can be the rapporteur or co-rapporteur for any given pharmaceutical application, taking on the bulk of the verification work on behalf of all members, while the documents are still sent to other members as and where requested. From January 2021, the MHRA is instead a stand-alone body. However, under the Northern Ireland Protocol the authorisation of medicines marketed in Northern Ireland continues to be the responsibility of the European Medicines Agency. Funding The MHRA is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care for the regulation of medical devices, whilst the costs of medicines regulation is met through fees from the pharmaceutical industry. This has led to suggestions by some MPs that the MHRA is too reliant on industry, and so not fully independent. In 2017, the MHRA was awarded over £980,000 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund its work with the foundation and the World Health Organization on improving safety monitoring for new medicines in low and middle-income countries. In response to a Freedom of Information request, in 2022 the MHRA stated that approximately £3million had been received from the Gates Foundation for a number of initiatives spanning several financial years. Key people Dr June Raine has been the chief executive of the MHRA since 2019, succeeding Dr Ian Hudson who had held the post since 2013. The MHRA's strategy is set by a board which consists of a chairperson (appointed for a three-year