Professor Jacob George has today, 5 January 2026, taken up the new post of Chief Medical and Scientific Officer (CMSO) at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The CMSO will lead the agency’s science strategy and oversee its scientific, research and innovation activity, a role the MHRA positions as supporting UK life sciences while maintaining patient safety.
Ministers and the regulator framed the appointment around faster, safe patient access to new treatments. Health Innovation Minister Dr Zubir Ahmed said Professor George’s expertise will help accelerate access to innovative therapies, while MHRA Chief Executive Lawrence Tallon said the appointment strengthens the regulator’s ability to safeguard public health and speed access to medicines and medical devices across the UK.
Professor George is Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Dundee and a consultant physician in NHS Tayside. He serves on the Delivery Group and Management Board for the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP), co‑chairs the NIHR Capital Investment Funding Committee, and has advised NICE on health technology assessment. He also sits on Malaysia’s Scientific Review Panel for Phase I clinical trials.
The MHRA’s November 2025 announcement set out that the CMSO will lead the agency’s science and innovation strategies, including the Science Campus programme. It also confirmed Professor George will work from the MHRA’s London office and its science campus in Hertfordshire, while retaining a base in Scotland-reflecting the agency’s four‑nation remit.
ILAP provides an integrated route to earlier patient access by bringing together the MHRA, NICE, NHS England, the Scottish Medicines Consortium and the All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre, with governance via an ILAP Delivery Group, Management Board and Sponsor Board. The pathway is open to commercial and non‑commercial developers and is explicitly designed to shorten end‑to‑end timelines from development to adoption.
Entry to ILAP is through the Innovation Passport. Once awarded, developers work with ILAP partners on a Target Development Profile, a living roadmap that aligns evidence expectations across regulation, HTA and NHS adoption, and offers prioritised access to services and early engagement with patients and the health system.
Alongside ILAP, the International Recognition Procedure (IRP) has been operational since 1 January 2024, replacing earlier EU reliance routes. IRP allows MHRA to recognise decisions by named reference regulators under two timeframes-60 days (Recognition A) or 110 days (Recognition B)-following an eligibility check. The MHRA retains full authority to accept or refuse applications.
Policy Wire analysis: establishing a single, senior scientific lead at the MHRA coincides with a regulatory model that emphasises risk‑proportionate regulation and earlier, co‑ordinated evidence generation. For sponsors, the combination of early ILAP engagement and, where appropriate, IRP can compress UK entry timelines; for patients and the NHS, clearer, earlier alignment on data requirements should support quicker safe access.