The RCPod updates its members about Platelet-rich plasma injections
The College asked members to suspend using Platelet-rich Plasma (PRP) injections on 8 June to comply with MHRA guidance that PRP is an unlicensed human medicine in the UK. The College can now advise its members further.
Following the RCPod instruction to its members on 8 June for them to stop using Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, the College's two clinical committees, Clinical Senate and the Medicines and Medical Devices Committee (MMDC), met by Monday 12 June to discuss the MHRA’s clarification that PRP is an unlicensed human medicine in the UK.
The RCPod has now created a comprehensive PRP injections page that provides further information about these changes and offers detailed answers to frequently asked questions about this issue.
RCPod position statement
The RCPod position is that there are no appropriate circumstances that enable podiatrists to prepare and inject PRP. We base this statement on Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) guidance which is drawn from the legislation and regulation governing medicines and healthcare products.
Regardless of how the PRP is manufactured, the MHRA believes podiatrists will be using PRP in clinical practice based on actual or implied claims that PRP is used with the intention of reducing pain and/or promoting healing. Due to the mechanism by which PRP is claimed to achieve these outcomes, the claims are ‘medicinal claims’ and therefore the use of PRP by podiatrists in clinical practice will come under the remit of Human Medicines Regulation (HMR).
PRP and its use as a medicinal product is subject to needing a marketing authorisation and a manufacturing licence. Podiatrists are not exempt from these requirements.
As such, podiatrists cannot provide PRP to patients and cessation guidance issued on Thursday 8 June 2023 still stands. This practice must stop immediately.
Read the RCPod's full guidance here.