Germany has taken another step to improve the conditions for pharmaceutical research & development in Germany. Now, the Federal Government has adopted the “Standard Contractual Clauses” for pharmaceutical clinical trial agreements. In this blog, we discuss what the new standard clauses cover and how they will affect clinical trials in
Continue Reading Germany enacts Standard Contractual Clauses for pharmaceutical clinical trial agreements – Changes for medical device studies also on the horizon
MHRA Issues Statement of Policy Intent Regarding Early Access to Innovative Medical Devices
On 31 July 2025, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) issued a statement of policy intent relating to a service to provide early access to the Great Britain market for innovative medical devices (“Early Access Service”). Although this statement is non-binding, it indicates further efforts by the MHRA to reduce unwarranted barriers to market entry, through faster, risk-proportionate, and predictable routes to regulatory approval – in line with Action 25 of the Life Sciences Sector Plan (published on 16 July 2025).Continue Reading MHRA Issues Statement of Policy Intent Regarding Early Access to Innovative Medical Devices
MHRA Announces Consultation Response on Reforms to GB Pre-Market Medical Device Regulation
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
EU Joint Procurement – An Overview
The joint procurement by the European Commission (“Commission”) and the Member States of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics presented a significant milestone in the EU’s management of the pandemic. In the aftermath of the pandemic, there have been repeated calls for more joint procurement. This blog explores the existing mechanisms for joint procurement and also considers the Commission’s proposal for a Critical Medicines Act (“CMA”) and what it would mean for public procurement.
At a high level, there are already various mechanisms for joint procurement of medicinal products and medical devices both with and without involvement of the Commission. The CMA proposal does not fundamentally change that but rather supplements the existing regimes.
The key aspect to be aware of is that both the existing regime and the draft CMA merely establish a framework for joint procurement, including the relationship among Member States and the Commission (if involved). This framework focusses on establishing when joint procurement is possible and the mechanism for getting a joint procurement set up. However, the framework does not specify in what circumstances Member States and/or the Commission might choose to engage in joint procurement, the terms of the tender or any resulting contract.Continue Reading EU Joint Procurement – An Overview
MHRA Consultation on Individualised mRNA Cancer Immunotherapies – Unique opportunity for a streamlined risk based regulatory framework?
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) is seeking industry feedback on its new draft guideline on individual messenger ribonucleic acid (“mRNA”) cancer immunotherapies (the “Draft Guidance”). Building on the success of mRNA vaccine technology in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the technology is now being adapted to target diseases such as cancer. The MHRA aims to provide a streamlined robust regulatory framework for the approval of such personalised mRNA-based cancer vaccines without compromising safety.
The Draft Guidance covers the regulatory classification of these novel cancer treatments, product design and manufacture, non-clinical and clinical development, pharmacovigilance and the distribution of information to the wider public. Notably, the MHRA explicitly acknowledges that the regulatory and scientific principles discussed in the Draft Guidance could broadly apply to other disease indications or technologies that could benefit from personalisation or individualisation. Therefore, industry should be aware that the scope of the Draft Guidance may be extended in the future beyond mRNA cancer immunotherapies that use lipid nanoparticle delivery systems to other delivery systems and disease areas. Manufacturers, developers, patient organisations and other stakeholders have until 31 March 2025 to comment on the Draft Guidance.
We explore some of the interesting regulatory considerations arising from the Draft Guidance below.Continue Reading MHRA Consultation on Individualised mRNA Cancer Immunotherapies – Unique opportunity for a streamlined risk based regulatory framework?
The Covington European Life Sciences Symposium 2025
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
MHRA Consults on New UK Pre-Market Medical Device Measures
Last month we provided an update on the UK Government’s draft post-market surveillance statutory instrument (“PMS SI”) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (“MHRA’s”) intention to run a further public consultation on proposed changes to pre-market medical device regulation under an upcoming statutory instrument (“Pre-Market SI”).
On 14 November 2024, the MHRA launched a consultation on proposed pre-market regulatory changes for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic (“IVD”) devices (the “Consultation”). The MHRA intends to incorporate the feedback from the Consultation in drafting the Pre-Market SI.Continue Reading MHRA Consults on New UK Pre-Market Medical Device Measures
UK’s Medical Device Post-market Surveillance Statutory Instrument Laid Before Parliament – What are the Key Changes for Medical Device Regulation?
On 21 October 2024, the UK Government laid the draft Post-market Surveillance statutory instrument (“PMS SI”) before Parliament (see the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (“MHRA’s”) press release here). Once implemented, the PMS SI will further amend the UK’s Medical Devices Regulations 2002 (“UK MDRs”) by introducing new vigilance requirements for medical devices already on the Great Britain (“GB”) market. The proposed updates to the UK MDRs seek to bring it into greater alignment with the EU’s Medical Devices Regulation 2017/745 (“EU MDR”) and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation 2017/746 (“EU IVDR”), whilst also taking advantage of certain opportunities resulting from the UK’s withdrawal from the EU to build on and diverge from this legislation.Continue Reading UK’s Medical Device Post-market Surveillance Statutory Instrument Laid Before Parliament – What are the Key Changes for Medical Device Regulation?
Germany enacts stricter requirements for the processing of Health Data using Cloud-Computing – with potential side effects for Medical Research with Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices
On 1 July 2024, Germany has enacted stricter requirements for the processing of health data when using cloud-computing services. The new Section 393 SGB V aims to establish a uniform standard for the use of cloud-computing services in the statutory healthcare system which covers around 90% of the German population. In this blog
Continue Reading Germany enacts stricter requirements for the processing of Health Data using Cloud-Computing – with potential side effects for Medical Research with Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices
UK MHRA Announces Intention To Recognize Certain International Approvals For Certain Medical Devices
On May 21, 2024, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) published a statement of policy intent for UK recognition of international regulatory approvals of certain medical devices (the “Statement”). The Statement follows the Government response to the 2021 consultation on the future regulation of medical devices in the UK that details an intention to introduce alternative routes to market for medical devices, such as utilizing approvals from other countries and Medical Device Single Audit Program (“MDSAP”) certificates, in addition to the current UK Conformity Assessed (“UKCA”) marking process.
The MHRA has already taken similar steps in the medicines space, adopting a new International Recognition Procedure (“IRP”) in January 2024.
In relation to devices, the Statement applies to certain medical devices placed on the market in Great Britain. For relevant devices, the MHRA proposes to recognize foreign approvals from regulators in Australia, Canada, EU/EEA and USA (which is a smaller number of acceptable regulators than under the MHRA’s IRP for medicines). The Statement expressly excludes a number of medical devices from international recognition, including software as a medical device (“SaMD”) (including AI as a medical device (“AIaMD”)) and companion diagnostic products approved via US 510(k) (a route which relies on equivalence to a predicate).
The proposed framework is a draft and the final version is expected to come into force in 2025 at the same time as future core regulations. It also remains the government’s intention to introduce transitional arrangements for UKCA marked devices at the same time.Continue Reading UK MHRA Announces Intention To Recognize Certain International Approvals For Certain Medical Devices