While COVID-19 sharpened global understanding of the importance of efficient medicines review and regulation, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has been systematically assessing national medicines regulatory authorities in the Americas since 2010. "It's inevitable that we reflect on what happened during the pandemic but also that we take that as an enormous opportunity to move forward in a way that can take the lessons out of regulation in a time of crisis to prevent crisis," suggests PAHO Medicines Health & Technologies Unit Chief Analía Porrás in this conversation with Susan Zavala Coloma (DIGEMID, Peru) and Global Forum Regional Editor for Latin America Cammilla Gomes (Roche). “The idea of the assessment is not just to showcase what's going well in a regulatory authority but, with the regulatory authority, to decide on the priorities for opportunities for improvement. We gained the trust of our regulatory authorities and our other stakeholders like the industry; with that trust, the authorities know that we're going to push them to be their best.”