Dr Beatriz San Martin

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This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during July and early August 2024  from United Kingdom, and European Union.

Following the UK national elections on July 4, 2024, which brought in a new government, the King delivered a speech to Parliament setting out the government’s key legislative and policy agenda. Of particular importance to the life sciences sector are the Product Safety and Metrology Bill and the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill. Although the scope and content of each bill is currently unknown, they could impact medical devices and innovative scientific research. Further, there was no artificial intelligence bill in the agenda, although the government will “seek to establish the appropriate legislation” in the future.Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – August 2024

This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during June 2024 from United Kingdom, and European Union.

While it has been a relatively quiet month in the EU given elections in the European Parliament and in the UK (as well as other countries across the EU), agencies across the globe have published important guidance on machine-learning enabled medical devices. This includes the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) guiding principles on transparency, published together with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada, and the International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) consultation on its guiding principles on good machine learning practice (which itself follows similar guidance from MHRA, FDA, and Health Canada in 2021). This demonstrates the increased importance of international standards in this area and the need for coordination between regulatory authorities to standardize guidance for these products.Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – July 2024

This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during May and early June 2024 from United Kingdom, and European Union.

Of interest, artificial intelligence (AI) safety has been in focus over the past month, including with the publication of the Interim International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI. International collaboration in this area is increasing as world leaders met at the AI Summit in Seoul, and the UK government recently announced a collaboration on AI safety with Canada, supplementing its existing commitment with France. Further, the UK launched the AI safety evaluations platform, which is available to the global community. In the meantime, the EU has established an AI Office to oversee the implementation of the AI Act and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published its AI Airlock to address novel challenges in the regulation of artificial intelligence medical devices (AIaMD).Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – June 2024

This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during April and early May 2024.

You will note that France has set out new pricing rates for innovative digital therapeutic medical devices under the accelerated market access pathway, known as PECAN. While the pathway was set out in February 2023, the lack of reimbursement rates means up-take has been low. The order of April 22, 2024 introduces the new pricing structure, with the maximum amount of financial compensation set at €780 per year, per patient. This is an important step in ensuring digital therapeutic products can be widely available in France while also ensuring that developers can obtain appropriate reimbursement.Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest, May 2024

This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during March.

You will note that the EU institutions have been busy during March. On March 12, 2024, the European Parliament (EP) formally adopted the revised Product Liability Directive, which makes several important changes to the existing European Union (EU) product liability regime, including that software and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies will now fall within the scope of a product. On March 13, 2024, the EP formally adopted the Artificial Intelligence Act, meaning the legislative process for the world’s first binding law on AI is nearing its conclusion. Finally, on March 15, 2024, the Council of the European Union and the EP reached a provisional agreement on the European Health Data Space (EHDS), which aims to improve access to health data electronically across the EU. Each of these important legislative provisions should shortly be finalized and will then become law in the EU.Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest, April 2024

A version of this article was first published in Life Sciences IP Review

There is currently no specific legislation in the UK that governs AI, or its use in healthcare. Instead, a number of general-purpose laws apply that have to be adapted to specific AI technologies. As a step towards a more coherent approach, the government recently published its response to its consultation on regulating AI in the UK.  This maintains the government’s “pro-innovation” framework of principles, to be set out in guidance rather than legislation, which will then be implemented by regulatory authorities in their respective sectors, such as by the MHRA for medicines.  The MHRA has already started this process and signalled itself as an early-adopter of the UK government’s approach. The hope is that this will lead to investment in the UK by life science companies as the UK is seen as a first-launch country for innovative technologies.Continue Reading The UK’s pro-innovation approach to AI: What does this mean for life science companies?

The end of 2023 featured two significant judgments concerning AI inventions: (i) a highly awaited decision from the Supreme Court in Thaler on the ability of AI systems to be named inventors of patents; and (ii) a decision from the High Court in Emotional Perception considering the application of the computer program exclusion in the UK, leading to prompt changes in patent examination practices by the UKIPO. The Thaler decision was unsurprising and consistent with decisions in other jurisdictions. Consequently, this article focuses on the second of these judgments, especially as Emotional Perception could have ramifications for life sciences companies utilising artificial neural networks (ANN); inventions using ANNs will no longer be excluded from patentability on the basis that it engages the computer program exclusion to patentability in the UK.Continue Reading Landmark UK High Court decision makes it easier to patent AI-related inventions that utilise ANNs

The Retained EU Law Bill is now an Act of Parliament, having received Royal Assent on 29 June 2023. In our blog, published at the end of last year, we explained the draft Bill’s key features. Since then, the Bill has undergone significant amendment. In this blog we consider key differences between the original Bill and the Act.Continue Reading The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 – Update

Answers to Some Common Questions

After many years of debate, negotiations and work, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and the unitary patent system were finally launched on 1 June 2023. In this publication, we demystify confusing terminology and misconceptions by providing answers to common questions on the UPC and the unitary patent system.Continue Reading Demystifying the UPC and the Unitary Patent