European Union

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

Continue Reading EMA Releases Reflection Paper on AI/ML in the Medicinal Product Lifecycle

The EU Clinical Trials Regulation 536/2014 significantly expanded the transparency requirements for clinical trials in the EU, resulting in the public availability of most documents and information submitted by sponsors to the new EU Clinical Trial Information System. Tune into this episode of Covington’s Life Sciences Audiocast, where Robin

Continue Reading EU Talking Life Sciences Audiocast: Clinical Trial Transparency Requirements in the EU

In short

We won Case T-201/21 Covington & Van Vooren vs European Commission.  But why did we litigate?  Why did we ask to see how the member states voted on an EU implementing act?  A short background story, worth a few minutes of your time if interested in the

Continue Reading The EU member states’ votes banning a product cannot be presumed confidential: Why we litigated Case T-201/21 Covington & VanVooren vs European Commission (and won)

On 9 June 2023, the UK Government published further guidance relating to the practical implementation of the Windsor Framework (agreed between the UK and the EU on 27 February 2023, please see our client alert here).  This overarching guidance contains further detail from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory

Continue Reading New MHRA Guidance on the Windsor Framework: Timings Confirmed but More Details to Follow

On April 27, 2023 the European Commission (“Commission”) released its proposal to introduce a single procedure for the granting of Supplementary Protection Certificates (“SPCs”) throughout the EU.  The changes are intended to complement the new unitary patent procedure that will enter into force on June 1, 2023.  The Commission intends

Continue Reading EU Pharma Legislation Review Series: Unitary Supplementary Protection Certificates and Recast

Borderline issues arise when the regulatory classification of a product, for example, as a medicine, a medical device or a food supplement, is unclear.  Uncertainty about the regulatory status of a product under development, and consequently uncertainty as to what legal rules need to be followed, can have immense consequences

Continue Reading EU Pharma Legislation Review Series: New Classification Mechanism for Borderline Cases

The European Commission’s proposal to amend the current pharmaceutical regulatory framework includes a draft Directive on medicines for human use (the “Proposed Directive”) and a draft Regulation on the central authorisation and supervision of medicines (the “Proposed Regulation”, together the “Proposal”).  In this blog, we provide an overview of the

Continue Reading EU Pharma Revision Series: Pharmacovigilance

On April 26, 2023, the European Commission proposed the long awaited reform of the EU’s pharmaceutical regulations (see here to view our previous blogs on the subject).  This blog post discusses the data protection aspects of the proposals, which relate to the data processing activities of the European Medicines Agency

Continue Reading EU Pharma Legislation Review Series: Data Protection Aspects

The European Commission (the “Commission”) wants to “avoid unnecessary administrative and financial burdens for applicants and competent authorities.”  As such, the Commission’s proposal for a revised Directive on the Union Code Relating to Medicinal Products for Human Use (the “Directive”) retains the Decentralized Procedure (“DCP”) and Mutual Recognition

Continue Reading EU Pharma Legislation Review Series: National MA Procedures Including the Mutual Recognition Procedure and Decentralized Procedure

The EU’s General Pharmaceutical Legislation amendment proposal, which was published on 26 April 2023 (“the Proposal”), is introducing new measures to regulate decentralized manufacturing, which is increasingly used for certain categories of medicinal products.  In particular, the Proposal introduces new obligations for manufacturers and for national competent authorities overseeing

Continue Reading EU Pharma Legislation Review Series: Decentralized Manufacturing