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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

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.

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.

The Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published Guidelines on 29 December 2023 to regulate pharmaceutical exports by entities other than pharmaceutical warehouses, aiming to ensure compliance with national and international standards and safeguard public health. These Guidelines require that only authorized companies can export pharmaceutical products and dietary foods for special medical purposes, necessitating a valid export permit. They outline the process for obtaining export permits, the responsibilities of exporting companies, including their obligation to report any issues with exported products, and the joint liability of the license holder and exporter for the export operations.

Belgium is welcoming a significant development in the field of veterinary medicine law. The Act of 11 July 2023 containing various provisions on health, which entered into force on 8 September 2023, introduces changes across a wide spectrum of healthcare domains, which are encompassed in approximately 20 chapters. In this blog post, we provide an overview of the key changes related to the marketing of veterinary medicines set out in Chapters 4 and 14 of the new Law.