European Union

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

This is one in a series of Inside European Life Sciences blogs on the proposal for an EU Biotech Act in the form of a regulation that the European Commission released on 16 December 2025.  This blog focuses on the proposals to amend the EU’s clinical trial rules and establish

Continue Reading The Proposed EU Biotech Act Aims to Accelerate and Streamline Procedures for the Approval of Clinical Trials and Combined Studies

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

At just after 5 am on 11 December 2025, the EU Parliament and the Council reached agreement on a new directive and a new regulation that will result in a major update to the EU’s pharmaceutical laws.  Progress towards these new rules began in 2016 and are the result of

Continue Reading EU Announces Political Agreement on Pharma Law Review

On September 17, 2025, the German Supervisory Authorities (Konferenz der unabhängigen Datenschutzaufsichtsbehörden des Bundes und der Länder, DSK) published new guidelines and recommendations addressing the complex requirements for transferring personal data, particularly health data (including health data contained in biomaterials), to countries outside of the European Economic

Continue Reading New German Guidelines on GDPR Requirements for International Transfers of Health Data in Medical Research

On 15 January 2025, the European Commission published an action plan on the cybersecurity of hospitals and healthcare providers (the “Action Plan”). The Action Plan sets out a series of EU-level actions that are intended to better protect the healthcare sector from cyber threats. The publication of the Action Plan follows a number of high-profile incidents in recent years where healthcare providers across the European Union have been the target of cyber attacks.Continue Reading European Commission Publishes Action Plan on Cybersecurity of Hospitals and Healthcare Providers

In recent weeks, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) has published further guidance relating to the implementation of the Windsor Framework.  From 1 January 2025, changes due to the Windsor Framework for the licensing, labelling and wholesale dealing of human medicinal products in the UK will become effective.  The new measures require, amongst other things: (i) all human medicinal products intended for the UK market to be authorized by the MHRA; (ii) a single UK-wide pack that bears a “UK only” label; and (iii) disapplication of the EU Falsified Medicines Directive 2011/62/EU (“EU FMD”) requirements to UK-wide packs. 

Following the MHRA’s initial publication of guidance focusing on the changes to labelling and packaging (please see our blog post here), the Agency has now issued guidance relating to wholesalers and manufacturers (“Wholesaler and Manufacturer Guidance), licensing (“Licensing Guidance”) and advertising (“Advertising Guidance”).

We explore some of the key requirements and recommendations for supply chains and promotional material arising from this new guidance below.Continue Reading Are you Windsor Framework ready? A focus on pharmaceutical supply chains and promotional material

In an earlier blog, we had reported on an interesting litigation case concerning the legal scope of the market exclusivity right for orphan drugs in the EU. Meanwhile, there have been further developments in this court case and its key questions have now been referred to the European Court

Continue Reading European Court of Justice requested to clarify the scope of the market exclusivity right for orphan drugs – German courts remain divided