Inside EU Life Sciences

Updates on Legal Developments in the EU Life Sciences Industry

Latest from Inside EU Life Sciences

On 19 September 2023, the UK  Government announced the launch of the Innovative Devices Access Pathway (“IDAP”) pilot scheme. The UK already has in place an Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (“ILAP”) for medicines.  IDAP is the equivalent for medical devices, and is groundbreaking in the UK devices space. 

The IDAP scheme aims to improve

Today, the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) finished the preparatory session for the draft International Legal Instrument Relating to Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources (the “Instrument”), which will be discussed and adopted at a diplomatic conference in 2024.

At the heart of the Instrument is the introduction of a

On 30 August 2023, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) published detailed guidance on its recently announced new International Reliance Procedure (“IRP”) (see our prior blog and audiocast).  The IRP will apply from 1 January 2024 and will replace and significantly expand on existing EU reliance procedures to apply to authorizations

Orphan drugs have a special position under EU pharma laws. Among other things, the EU orphan drug laws grant the marketing authorization holder (MAH) of an orphan drug a 10 year period of so-called “market exclusivity”. According to Article 8(1) of the Regulation (EC) No. 141/2000 on orphan medicinal products, the EU and the EU

Big news for manufacturers: the UK Government announced on 1 August 2023 that it will indefinitely recognize the EU’s product conformity assessment mark (the “Conformité Européenne” or “CE” mark), with respect to a range of manufactured goods placed on the UK market. 

The move is a significant reversal of the UK’s previous, post‑Brexit policy.  In a bid

Germany’s hospital system is reported to be of high quality but is also very expensive by international standards. Hospitals and healthcare payers such as health insurances are exposed to increasing economic constraints. One particular point of criticism is, for example, the current system of Diagnosis Related Group (DRG)-based fees.

Patient treatments are compensated based on

Tune into this episode of Covington’s Life Sciences Audiocast, where Winsome Cheung, Lauren Pignataro Rakitin and Sibel Yilmaz discuss cell and gene therapy collaboration and licensing deals. The speakers discuss the commercial, IP and antitrust issues commonly faced by pharma and biotech companies as they seek to partner in this evolving landscape, and

Tune into this episode of Covington’s Life Sciences Audiocast, where Grant Castle, Marie Doyle Rossi, and Ellie Handy discuss the UK’s recent announcement of new international reliance routes for medicinal products and medical devices. The speakers will discuss existing EU reliance procedures offered by the UK. They will then set out the

Hot on the heels of recent announcements from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (see our prior blogs here), the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) has joined the conversation on the use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and Machine Learning (“ML”) technologies in the medicinal product lifecycle.

AI and ML have the potential to enhance every

Tune into this episode of Covington’s Life Sciences Audiocast where Winsome Cheung and Gregor Frizzell discuss some new and emerging M&A and licensing trends in the Life Sciences industry. Our speakers discuss some of the motivating factors for why parties decide between the two and some of the key differences and pros and cons of