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Roderick Dirkzwager

Roderick Dirkzwager advises clients in the life sciences sector on a broad range of regulatory, transactional and intellectual property matters relating to the discovery, development and commercialization of their products.

Roderick is a member of Covington’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is a co-lead of the LGBT+ Affinity Group in London.

With a broad life sciences practice, Roderick regularly advises on:

EU, Irish, and UK regulatory issues relating to pharmaceutical products and medical devices;
commercial agreements that span the product life-cycle in the life sciences sector, including collaborations and other strategic agreements, clinical trial agreements, distribution arrangements and manufacturing and supply contracts;
regulatory and commercial due diligence for life sciences transactions; and
intellectual property issues arising in corporate transactions and IP-related contracts.

Roderick is also a member of Covington's Life Sciences in Africa team and advises clients on regulatory and commercial strategies for the supply of medical products across Africa, including through international recognition procedures such as WHO pre-qualification. Prior to joining the firm, Roderick completed his Ph.D. in Biochemistry, focusing on the development of novel, low-cost malaria diagnostic technologies using DNA aptamers.

Introduction

On 16 December 2025, the European Commission (“Commission”) published its Proposal for a Regulation on establishing a framework of measures for strengthening the Union’s biotechnology and biomanufacturing sectors particularly in the area of health (“Biotech Act”) (see here).  The Proposal follows a public consultation held between

Continue Reading European Commission Adopts Proposal for the Biotech Act

This is one in a series of Inside EU Life Sciences blogs on the European Commission’s (“Commission’s”) latest proposal for a European Biotech Act.

On 16 December 2025, the Commission announced a proposal to introduce a new draft Regulation (“Proposed Regulation”) aimed at boosting the EU’s competitiveness in the biotech

Continue Reading European Biotech Act: Potential new extension for supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) for ATMPs and biotechnology medicines

The European Commission announced today (16 December) its plans to simplify the existing EU regulatory framework for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices (“IVDs”).  Many industry stakeholders have criticized the current EU device rules as being slow, costly, unpredictable, and unnecessarily complex. Under the proposed revisions, the Commission

Continue Reading European Commission Announces (Long Awaited) Proposal to Simplify EU Medical Device Regulations

On 22 July 2025, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) published the outcome of its most recent medical device-related consultation.  The MHRA also announced its intention to consult further on the indefinite recognition of CE-marked medical devices in Great Britain, with this consultation expected to take place later in 2025.Continue Reading MHRA Announces Consultation Response on Reforms to GB Pre-Market Medical Device Regulation

On 23 January 2025, we hosted the 2025 edition of the Covington European Life Sciences Symposium. The Symposium brought together colleagues from London, Brussels, Frankfurt and Dublin with our industry connections to explore the evolving challenges and opportunities facing the European life sciences sector.Continue Reading The Covington European Life Sciences Symposium 2025

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced that it will expand its activities under its clinical data publication policy (CDP Policy, also known as Policy 0070) to cover all clinical data submitted under new marketing authorization applications (MAAs) for medicinal products as well as any applications for line extensions or

Continue Reading EMA Clinical Data Publication Policy to Cover All New Marketing Authorization Applications, Line Extensions and Major Clinical Type II Variations Starting Q2 2025

Last week (28 March 2024), the UK Health Research Authority (“HRA”) published a draft model investigator-initiated study agreement (“mIIS-CTA”) to govern investigator-initiated clinical studies (“IIS”) that involve NHS patients and receive support from commercial partners.  The HRA is calling for comments on the draft mIIS-CTA by 13 May 2024.Continue Reading UK HRA Consults on a New Model Investigator-Initiated Study Agreement

On 26 January 2024, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced that it has received a €10 million grant from the European Commission to support regulatory systems in Africa, and in particular for the setting up of the African Medicines Agency (AMA). Although still in its early stages as an agency

Continue Reading EMA announces €10 million of funding to support the establishment of the African Medicines Agency

Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) are a form of patent term extension right that are available in the EU for medicinal products.

Tune into this episode of Covington’s Life Sciences Audiocast where Inga Pietsch and Roderick Dirkzwager discuss some of the developments in SPC case law from the European Court of

Continue Reading EU Talking Life Sciences Audiocast: Supplementary Protection Certificates – What It Means for a Product to Be Protected by a Basic Patent in Force and Future Proposals in the EU