Fellow

Described by the Times newspaper as “The patients’ champion who shuns the limelight,” Dame June Raine, Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has a medical background and a civil service career spanning 35 years. Her work has helped improve patient safety and patient engagement, and establish the UK as a world-leading destination for life sciences and the development of new innovations in medicines and medical devices. She played a crucial role in setting up rolling reviews during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading the UK to become the first country in the world to authorise the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccines. June went to Oxford University’s Somerville College in 1971, where she obtained a BA in physiology in 1974 and, the following year, an MSc in pharmacology. She subsequently studied at Oxford University Medical School, completing her medical degree in 1978. After gaining her membership of the Royal College of Physicians and several medical posts, including working as a general practitioner for five years, June was encouraged by David Grahame-Smith, the Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at Oxford, to consider a future working in medicines regulation. Grahame-Smith successfully persuaded her that this was at the cutting edge scientifically, and that she might find involvement in the process of developing new drugs a good way of having a direct impact on public health. June reflects “As he predicted, I saw the value of the work almost as soon as I started. At that time HIV was just becoming a global threat, and I witnessed first-hand how these new antiretroviral cocktails turned HIV from a death sentence into a disease you could live with and even, in time, cure. Right from the beginning, regulation captured my imagination as a means of translating robust scientific methodologies into tangible health benefits – and I’ve been here ever since.” Having joined the Medicines Division at the Department of Health in 1985, June moved to the newly formed MHRA in 2003. She worked in several licensing and patient safety areas including widening the Yellow Card Scheme to enable patients and the public to directly report suspected adverse drug reactions. In 2006, June was appointed the Agency’s Director of Vigilance and Risk Management, to monitor the safety of medicines. While in this role, her department tightened dosing recommendations for children’s paracetamol products, introduced new warnings for addictive opioid medicines, acted to limit the size of paracetamol packs available over the counter and removed the analgesic co-proxamol from sale; decisions which saved hundreds of lives from self-harm and suicide. She also chaired public hearings into the use of the anti-convulsant sodium valproate, ultimately curtailing its use in pregnancy because of the evidence of serious harm to exposed children. June’s efforts made her the champion of families whose lives had been affected. Speaking of June, Susan Cole, of the Valproate Stakeholders Network, said “She handled the top people from the royal colleges and the NHS, she made sure they heard us. And she made sure they heard her.” As if encapsulating the qualities needed to achieve this, Cole added “She was measured, understanding; she was a public servant, most of all. There aren’t that many of them left.” Having chaired the European Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee on behalf of the European Medicines Agency from 2012 to 2018, in 2019, June was appointed Interim Chief Executive of the MHRA. She reached much wider public prominence in December 2020, when the organisation she was leading became the first regulator to approve an mRNA vaccine for use in humans, and the first Western regulator to approve a COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech). In early 2021, June’s interim appointment as Chief Executive of the MHRA was made permanent, in part in recognition of her crucial role in the rapid authorisation of COVID-19 vaccines. June had been a natural fit for this role, which saw the MHRA embark on arguably the most vital task in its history: assessing the vaccines that could help end the pandemic, while ensuring that the rush to approve them did not compromise patient safety. Stephen Evans, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and a former colleague of June’s, has reflected on her absolute suitability for the task. As he said “If she was in a film, you might cast her as a friendly GP or a diplomat. She’s careful, courteous, caring. But her whole life has been devoted to public health, and she has a definite steeliness in the defence of that cause. I’ve seen her in the meetings, and she asks the difficult questions. If there are issues of safety, she will be an iron fist in a velvet glove.” June’s personal passions for opera and travel may be still to be indulged, as her work at the MHRA continues apace. Her popularity among her colleagues, coupled with a consummate ability to combine a gentle manner with a rigorous approach to patient and public safety, alongside an extraordinary professional energy, may stem in part from personal tragedy. June met her husband, Tony Raine, who became an eminent nephrologist, while at Oxford University. They had two children; in 1995, Tony died of colon cancer at the age of just 46. Three years later, one of June’s professional mentors died, also aged 46. As Evans said of these losses, “I think perhaps that history, that empathy, have made her a deeply humane person when working for patients.” Recognising these qualities, alongside her rigorous approach to science, June was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s 2009 Birthday Honours list, and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to healthcare and the COVID-19 response.