From 25 to 29 January 2022, the 150th session of the World Health Organization’s (“WHO”) Executive Board (“EB”) took place in Geneva, Switzerland. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, a central theme for this session was the management of global health emergencies. This post briefly outlines the main take-aways for pharmaceutical companies.
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New German Government plans significant changes with Impact on the Healthcare, Life Sciences and Food Sector
Following the federal election in September 2021, Germany will soon be led by a new three-party coalition, the so-called “traffic light coalition”, composed of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Liberal Democrats (FDP) and the Green Party (Die Grünen). This new federal government led by the new chancellor Olaf
U.S., UK and Canada Regulators Collaborate to Develop “10 Guiding Principles” for Good Machine Learning Practices (“GMLP”) for Medical Devices
On 27 October 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), Health Canada, and the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) (together the “Regulators”) jointly published 10 guiding principles to inform the development of Good Machine Learning Practice (“GMLP”) for medical devices that use artificial intelligence and machine learning (“AI/ML”).
Purpose
AI
Consultation on the Future Regulation of Medical Devices in the UK, including Work Programme for Software and AI Medical Devices
The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) has published a “Consultation on the future regulation of medical devices in the United Kingdom” (the “Consultation”), which will run until 25 November 2021. The consultation sets out proposed changes to the UK medical device regulatory framework with the aim to “develop
Growing calls for separate Nutraceutical regulation in the UK
Following the UK’s departure from the EU, the UK Government has been exploring ways to leverage its new regulatory freedoms. In particular, the life sciences sector has been a key Government priority. As early as January 2021, for example, the Government granted the MHRA powers to fast-track approvals for innovative medicines. More recently, two reports
European Health Union: European Commission proposes Changes to the Joint Procurement Agreement
On 11 November 2020, the European Commission has announced a range of proposals to build a European Health Union. The proposed measures reflect on the learnings from the current COVID-19 and previous influenza pandemics and seek to enhance Member States’ preparedness for future health crises, which also includes a greater involvement of the EU. As part of its set of measures, the Commission is proposing to revise the current EU joint procurement framework.
- Current Joint Procurement Framework
In 2010, as part of its “lessons learnt from the A/H1N1 pandemic”, the European Council called for the development of a joint procurement framework for vaccines and antiviral medication. Subsequently, the European Parliament and Council adopted Decision 1082/2013/EU (the “Decision”) on serious cross-border threats to health, which, among others, provides that the EU and any interested Member States may conduct a joint procurement procedure. The detailed procedure was then agreed between the Commission and the Member States in the Joint Procurement Agreement (the “JPA”).
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Entry Into Force of Reinforced Anti-gift Rules in France
Today, October 1st 2020, the updated anti-gift scheme in France enters into force. The anti-gift rules impose obligations on pharmaceutical, medical device and cosmetics companies when interacting with healthcare professionals (“HCPs”) and healthcare organizations (“HCOs”) in France. The updated framework was foreseen in the adoption of Ordinance 2017-49 of 19 January 2017 and Decree 2020-730 of 15 June 2020. This blog summarizes the new French rules.
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Brexit: UK Guidance on Regulation of Medical Devices from 1 January 2021
The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) has published Guidance on the regulation of medical devices from 1 January 2021 (the “Guidance”). It discusses the regulatory requirements that apply to medical devices after the end of the Brexit transitional period under the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement. In summary:
- From 1 January 2021, different rules
Manufacturers and Marketers Beware: The EU Adopts New Restrictions on Products Containing PFOAs
Since July 4, 2020 the manufacture, marketing and use of perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”), its salts and PFOA-related compounds (collectively, “PFOAs”), and products containing them, is significantly restricted in the European Economic Area (“EU/EEA”). The restrictions were introduced by a Commission Delegated Regulation amending Annex I to the EU POPs Regulation, and are intended to implement a decision of the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention that was held from April 29 to May 10, 2019.
The new PFOA restrictions will have significant impact on a wide variety of products marketed, and businesses operating, in the EU/EEA, including semiconductors, textiles, firefighting products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and materials used in the life sciences industry. In effect, the new restrictions implementing the Stockholm Convention are significantly broader than the restrictions on PFOAs that were introduced under the EU REACH Regulation in 2017, and which the Commission now intends to repeal.
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Effective date of EU Medical Device Regulation now officially delayed by 1 year
On 23 April 2020, the European Parliament and Council approved the European Commission’s proposal to delay the application date of the Medical Device Regulation 2017/745 (the “MDR”) by one year (from 26 May 2020 to 26 May 2021) by adopting New Regulation (EU) 2020/561 (the “New Regulation“).
Unusually, the New Regulation took effect