Emma Elliston

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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

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published its strategic approach to artificial intelligence (AI). The publication is in response to the request from the Secretaries of State of DSIT and DHSC dated 1 February 2024, in which the MHRA was asked to provide details about what steps it is taking in accordance with the principles and expectations of the Government’s pro-innovation approach set out in the white paper published in 2023. Further information is set out in our previous post.

The strategy provides information on how the MHRA views the risks and opportunities of AI from three perspectives:

  • MHRA as a regulator of AI products
  • MHRA as a public service organisation delivering time-critical decisions
  • MHRA as an organisation that makes evidence-based decisions that impact on public and patient safety, where that evidence is often supplied by third parties

The document is likely to be of particular interest to AIaMD manufacturers as it sets out in detail current and proposed regulations and guidance, and areas where this is likely to be tightened. Following the launch of the strategic approach, the government also published details of the AI Airlock regulatory sandbox, discussed in another post.

With a raft of measures relating to AI being published and additional measures expected in the next couple of years, pharmaceutical and medical device companies operating in the UK need to continually review how they will be impacted and respond appropriately.Continue Reading MHRA sets out its AI regulatory strategy

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

On 5 April 2024, the MHRA updated various guidance documents on the impact of the Windsor Agreement (the Agreement) on parallel imports into and within the UK. Since the end of the Brexit transition period, EMA-issued parallel distribution notices (PDNs) ceased to be valid in Great Britain (GB). A PDN must be obtained by a parallel distributor prior to engaging in parallel distribution in the EU. In GB, PDNs were replaced by Parallel Import Licences (PLPIs), which allowed distribution of products in GB only; while PDNs continued to be valid in Northern Ireland (NI).

As of 1 January 2025, when the Agreement is due to take effect, PDNs will no longer be valid in NI. All parallel imports into GB and NI will require a PLPI from the MHRA that will apply across the whole UK, and any PLPIs that were previously limited to GB will automatically convert into UK-wide PLPIs from this date.Continue Reading Brexit update: Changes to parallel imports in the UK

This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during February 2024.

Of note, the UK continues to pursue a “pro innovation” flexible approach to the regulation of AI. As outlined in the UK government’s response to the public consultation, the government will develop a set of core principles for regulating AI, while leaving regulatory authorities, like the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), discretion over how the principles apply in their respective sectors. A central governmental function will coordinate regulation across sectors and encourage collaboration. The government’s aim with this approach is to enable the UK to remain flexible to address the changing AI landscape, while being robust enough to address key concerns. This is in sharp contrast to the position in the EU, where the EU AI Act is reaching the conclusion of the legislative process.Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest, March 2024

Thank you to all who joined us for our December 13 panel titled the “Race to Regulate.” In case you missed it, unpack this year’s pivotal legal challenges impacting the 2023 — and 2024 — digital legal landscape in our Year in Review Pocket Book. Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest, December 2023

Spurred, in part, by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for new ways to reach patients at home, 2023 saw a boom in digital technologies and healthcare solutions: one-stop-shop telemedicine platforms, app-based remote patient monitoring, direct-to-consumer online pharmacies, software-based medical devices, and artificial intelligence/machine learning to bolster delivery of telehealth services. Then came a robust government response. In the EU and UK, regulatory bodies grappled with the introduction of machine learning, AI, and other software into healthcare services by, for example, new guidance from the EU Medical Device Coordination Group and UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on software medical devices, the EU’s AI Act and the UK government’s AI White paper, the European Medicines Agency reflection paper on use of AI in the product lifecycle, the EU Data Privacy Framework and the equivalent UK-U.S. data bridge, and the European Health Data Space. 

We call this the “Race to Regulate.” This push-pull dynamic between digital health innovation and government regulation is key to evaluating regulatory risks in today’s shifting legal landscape. This digest seeks to keep up with these changes and provide you with an overview of the key guidelines and developments as the landscape develops. As we come to the end of 2023 and publish our latest Digest, join us on December 13 as we unpack pivotal moments in the 2023 Race to Regulate and discuss what’s next for virtual and digital health. Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest and webinar

In a judgment handed down today, 10 July 2023, Mr Justice Turner refused permission for an application by the British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA) for judicial review of the refusal of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (SoS) to appoint it as a second “industry body” (in addition to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)) for the purposes of negotiation of the next voluntary scheme controlling the prices of branded health service medicines. The result of this decision is that negotiation will involve only the SoS and the ABPI, albeit taking into account submissions from other industry bodies (including the BGMA) and other stakeholders.Continue Reading BGMA refused permission for judicial review in relation to negotiation of the voluntary scheme