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The Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency updated its Guidelines on Scientific Meetings and Educational Events for medical devices on 4 January 2024, introducing a notable change of imposing a fee for event applications, set at TRY 1,114.02, effective immediately. This update eliminates the need to upload a commitment letter for event notifications and aims to streamline processes and enhance transparency in industry activities. However, the decision to charge fees has sparked criticism for potentially reducing the number of notifications by imposing additional financial burdens on companies. Further, similar fees will apply to pharmaceutical companies, although guidelines for pharmaceutical products have not been updated yet.

As with many healthcare systems worldwide, the Czech Republic faces challenges regarding sustainable funding and escalating healthcare costs, particularly concerning chronic and rare diseases.

Aiming to address emerging needs in public healthcare, on 12 April 2024, the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic introduced a draft amendment to the Act on Public Health Insurance and other related laws, which is proposed to take effect on 1 January 2026. In this article, we provide an overview of the key areas affected by the legislative proposal, namely (i) price and reimbursement regulation of medicinal products and medical devices, (ii) preventive care support, (iii) reimbursement of cross-border healthcare services, and (iv) dental care reimbursement.

At the heart of the global economy and public health, the life sciences industry is a driving force for progress in an ever-evolving web of laws and regulations.

Recent legislative initiatives in the EU illustrate some of the regulatory challenges – and opportunities – for the life sciences industry on a pan-European level.

Dive into our article below where we highlight some of the legal topics that we consider key for the life sciences industry in 2024 and how they might impact the industry.

Read further, download the article: Key EU Legislative Initiatives Shaping the Life Sciences Landscape in 2024

Under EU pharmaceutical law, certain medicines fall outside the scope of Directive 2001/83/EC (i.e. the Community code on medicinal products for human use). This includes “magistral formulae” (prepared in a pharmacy for an individual patient on prescription) and “officinal formulae” (prepared in a pharmacy in accordance with a pharmacopoeia and supplied directly to that pharmacy’s patients). As a result, they are not subject to the Directive’s requirements, including marketing and manufacturing authorisations. This raises the question to what extent Member States may regulate these exemptions in national law. In particular, can they impose additional conditions – such as requiring authorisation in certain circumstances – not foreseen by EU law? That issue arose before the EU Court of Justice (“CJEU”), in Case C-589/24, following a reference from the Dutch Supreme Court concerning national rules limiting the officinal formula exemption based on the quantity supplied to patients by pharmacies per month.

In Case T‑278/25, the EU General Court recently dismissed as inadmissible a challenge brought by a patient advocacy association against the European Commission’s refusal to renew the conditional marketing authorisation for a treatment against Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The case is significant because it adds to the case law on contesting Commission decisions relating to the marketing of medicinal products. In this blog post, we look at how the Court came to the conclusion that the association lacked standing to litigate and use this as a basis for an informal categorisation of the existing case law.

The EU General Court delivered a significant judgment concerning access to documents held by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), this time relating to a conditionally authorised COVID-19 vaccine. This case (T-623/22) serves as an addition to the elaborate case law on the balance between transparency in health matters and the protection of companies’ commercial interests. On this (rare) occasion, the commercial interests of the conditional marketing authorisation (‘MA’) holder prevailed, although an appeal is currently pending (C-38/26 P).

Every year, Belgium’s federal ministers publish their policy notes for discussion in Parliament. They give a high-level snapshot of what each minister plans to focus on in the coming year. For the pharmaceutical industry, the healthcare policy note is usually the one to watch. Interestingly, the economic policy note also weighs in on pharma this year. In this blog post, we unpack the key policy signals for the pharmaceutical sector and group them around three main pillars: budget, accessibility, and pricing.

BIOLEGIS webinar presents the comparative legal overview “Overview of the Laws on Drug Advertising & SmPC Compliance for 17 Countries”, jointly prepared by 17 BIOLEGIS member firms. The publication provides a structured cross-border analysis of the key legal frameworks governing medicinal product advertising and compliance with the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) across Europe.