The Irish Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) today announced the introduction of an expedited review process for human health research related to COVID-19. The Irish Minister for Health also announced the setting up of a dedicated COVID-19 National Research Ethics Committee (NREC-COVID-19). Applications for clinical trials of human medicines or clinical investigations of medical devices … Continue Reading
On 8 April 2020, the European Commission published its Communication on the “Temporary Framework for assessing antitrust issues related to business cooperation in response to situations of urgency stemming from the current COVID-19 outbreak” (the “Framework“). The Commission recognizes that supply chains have been severely disrupted due to COVID-19, combined with “an asymmetric demand shock … Continue Reading
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) has published a specification for a “Rapidly Manufactured Ventilator System” (“RMVS”), setting out the clinical requirements for a ‘minimally acceptable’ ventilator for use in hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak (the “RMVS Specification”). The purpose of the RMVS Specification is to meet the UK healthcare system’s increased demand … Continue Reading
On 20 March 2020, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (“DEFRA”) has announced a raft of measures relating to food supply and key workers with the easing the impact of COVID-19 for UK retailers and workers. The Department of Education and Cabinet Office has published guidance on key workers for COVID-19. The guidance … Continue Reading
On 26 February, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published further guidance (available here) setting out the anticipated regulation of medical devices in the UK, should the UK leave the EU without a deal (Guidance). This Guidance will apply from ‘exit day’ (expected to be 11 p.m. 29 March 2019) subject to … Continue Reading
On 21 February 2019, the European Commission wrote to the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) and the Heads of Medicines Agencies of the EU-27 Member States concerning the acceptability of UK batch testing after Brexit (see the letter here). The letter seeks to address concerns that a number of pharmaceutical companies will not have been able … Continue Reading
This article was originally posted on our sister blog Global Policy Watch Introduction Health technology assessment (“HTA”) is a multidisciplinary assessment process that seeks to evaluate the added therapeutic value of health technologies (i.e., drugs, certain medical devices, medical treatments including surgical procedures, and measures for disease prevention and diagnosis) based on both clinical and … Continue Reading
The “Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity” is an international agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way. It entered into force on 12 … Continue Reading
By Dr. Dr. Adem Koyuncu, Covington & Burling LLP In the EU, drug companies are not allowed to publicly promote prescription-only medicines. As courts also apply a broad interpretation of the term “promotional”, nearly all public statements that mention a prescription drug are likely to be qualified as illegal advertising. In certain circumstances, this may … Continue Reading
Recently, the Council of State (i.e., the Italian supreme administrative court and consultative body) adopted an important advisory opinion, which allows for improved access to investigational medicines by patients in Italy. In particular, the Council of State found that patients may be enrolled in compassionate use programmes or supplied with a medicine listed in the … Continue Reading
On 11 November 2016, the German Parliament passed another new law amending different parts of the German Medicines Act (Arzneimittelgesetz) and the Act on Advertising for Healthcare Products (Heilmittelwerbegesetz). The law is titled “Viertes Gesetz zur Änderung arzneimittelrechtlicher und anderer Vorschriften“. The draft was deliberated in the health committee of the Federal Council (Bundesrat) on … Continue Reading
On 28 November 2016, the Italian Chamber of Deputies approved the Draft Budgetary Law of 2017. Among other things, the Draft Law introduces new rules on the substitutability of biologics and the procurement of biosimilars. In particular, Article 59(11) of the Draft Law provides that: two products enjoy a biosimilarity relationship only where this has … Continue Reading
Recently, the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) has published a new Concept Paper on Biosimilars. The Concept Paper outlines the regulatory status of biosimilars in Italy as well as their importance for the Italian healthcare sector. The new Concept Paper constitutes a revision of AIFA’s Position Paper on Biosimilars of 13 May 2013. Overall, the Concept … Continue Reading
Recently, the German Federal Ministry of Health published a new draft law (“Viertes AMG-Änderungsgesetz”) which aims to amend several provisions of the German Drug Act (Arzneimittelgesetz) and other drug-related laws. Most of the intended amendments result from an adjustment of German laws to the new European Clinical Trials Regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 536/2014). For instance, … Continue Reading
Raj Gathani, a Trainee Solicitor in Covington’s London office, contributed to this post. On 1 September 2015 the General Court issued an interim order in favour of Pari Pharma GmbH (“Pari”) to suspend the European Medicines Agency’s (“EMA”) decision to grant a third-party, Novartis Europharm Ltd (“Novartis”), access to certain documents prepared during the Marketing Authorisation … Continue Reading
The Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) has announced that, as of 22 July 2015, it makes available on its website the Public Assessment Reports (PARs) of medicinal products authorised in Italy through the national procedure. For the medicines authorised from 2015 onwards, AIFA will publish the full PARs together with a summary understandable to a lay … Continue Reading
On 11 June 2015, the General Court handed down its judgment in Case T-452/14 Laboratoires CTRS v European Commission (the “CTRS Case”) annulling the Commission’s decision to grant Kolbam a marketing authorisation. The General Court held that references in Kolbam’s SmPC to the efficacy of Kolbam for indications that Orphacol was authorised circumvented Orphacol’s market … Continue Reading
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recently published for public consultation its draft guideline on clinical development of fixed combination medicinal products (Draft Guideline), which is intended to replace CHMP/EWP/240/95 Rev. 1 (Existing Guideline). The Draft Guideline applies to fixed combination medicinal products containing two or more active substances within a single pharmaceutical form. The … Continue Reading
This article was originally published on our sister blog InsidePrivacy May 2015 saw a number of developments in the EU mHealth sector worthy of a brief mention. The European Commission announced that it would work on new guidance for mHealth apps, despite the European Data Protection Supervisor and British Standards Institution publishing their own just … Continue Reading
A more detailed analysis of the impact of the work at the CJEU is featured in Clinica Medtech Intelligence. Liability Spotlight now on the Notified Bodies Background and Context The so-called PIP-Breast-implant scandal now reaches the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). As last week a German court referred a liability case to … Continue Reading
The European Commission (the Commission) confirmed on 27 March 2015 that a German scheme exempting pharmaceutical companies from mandatory rebates is in line with EU State aid rules. The Commission concluded that the scheme facilitated price freezes on certain medicines, which in turn allows the costs of the public health system to be kept under … Continue Reading
On 4 February 2015, the German Ministry of Justice published a new draft law specifically aimed to combat corruption in the healthcare sector. Key element of the draft legislation will be a newly defined criminal offence that will be inserted as a new Section 299a of the German Criminal Code (StGB). This new criminal offence … Continue Reading
