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On 11 March 2025, the European Commission published a proposal for a Critical Medicines Act (CMA).

The CMA introduces measures to improve the security of supply chains and availability of critical medicinal products and medicinal products of common interest in the European Union (EU). Some of the proposed measures directly affect Life Sciences companies, while other measures targeting the EU Member States can have a significant indirect impact on Life Sciences companies.Continue Reading European Commission Publishes Proposal for EU Critical Medicines Act

In our previous blog post, we set out the Commission’s proposed amendments to the Medical Devices Regulations (EU) 2017/745 (MDR) and the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulations (EU) 2017/746 (IVDR). The new Regulation introducing these changes has now been published: Regulation (EU) 2024/1860.

The new Regulation includes a welcome extension to the transitional periods for certain IVDs under the IVDR, where applicable conditions have been met. The other proposals relate to a gradual roll-out of Eudamed and notification obligations for interruptions in supply.Continue Reading Transition periods under the IVDR extended

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the pharmaceutical reform package following a debate on 10 April.

The vote is a key step in the passage of the new Directive and Regulation, which together form the EU’s revisions to the General Pharmaceutical Legislation (GPL). These revisions are part of the overall EU pharmaceutical strategy that was announced by the European Commission in November 2020, with the core GPL amendments proposals published in April 2023.

With the vote, the European Parliament has now endorsed the position adopted by the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee on 19 March 2024. The Committee had amended the Commission’s proposal in several respects. Overall, the Parliament’s amendments are aimed at encouraging and fostering more innovation in the EU, and industry will be pleased that some of its core concerns have been addressed, although significant areas of uncertainty remain.

The adoption of the package is likely to be delayed by the European Parliament elections in June this year. The reforms will be taken up by the new Parliament after the elections, and so it is difficult to see any agreement being reached before 2026.

Below is a summary of the Parliament’s position in some of the key area. This summary is, however, not exhaustive but rather highlights topics that have been subject to increased interest for industry and extensive discussions in the European Parliament.Continue Reading European Parliament backs reforms to the EU Regulatory Framework for Medicinal Products

On 23 January 2024, the European Commission announced proposals to amend the Medical Device Regulations (EU) 2017/745 (MDR) and the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulations (EU) 2017/746 (IVDR), as applicable, to:

  • extend the transition provisions for certain in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVDs) under the IVDR
  • allow for a gradual roll-out of Eudamed so that certain modules will be mandatory from late 2025
  • include a notification obligation in case of interruption of supply

The proposal will now need to be adopted by the European Parliament and Council before it enters into force. However, as the proposal follows a similar structure to the recent amendments to the MDR, we do not anticipate significant changes during the legislative process.Continue Reading Commission proposes extension to IVDR transition periods and accelerated launch of Eudamed

On 12 December 2023, the European Commission, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) published the first version of the Union list of critical medicines (the list). Along with the list, the EMA published a Questions & Answers document (Q&A).Continue Reading European Commission, HMA and EMA Publish First Union List of Critical Medicines

On 24 October 2023, the European Commission published a Communication on “Addressing medicine shortages in the EU” (the Communication). The Communication responds to the European Council’s call in June for urgent measures to ensure production and availability of critical medicines (i.e., the unavailability of which may cause patients serious harm, and whose supply must be ensured even in crisis periods) and to diversify international supply chains. On the same date, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) published details on the Solidarity Mechanism, recently created by the EMA Medicines Shortages Steering Group (MSSG) to facilitate redistribution of medicines between Member States (MS) in cases of critical shortages (i.e., medicine shortages where no alternative is available).

These EU-level actions are in addition to the mechanisms to tackle shortages already included in the European Commission’s proposal for a reform of the EU Pharmaceutical Legislation (read our advisory).Continue Reading New EU-level actions addressing shortages

Today, 26 April 2023, the European Commission (the Commission) published its long-awaited proposed amendments to the EU regulatory framework for medicinal products (the Proposals). We set out the key takeaways from these Proposals in our Advisory.

This is the culmination of a number of years’ work by the Commission, starting with the new pharmaceutical strategy for Europe (the Strategy) announced on 25 November 2020. We set out a summary of and reasons behind the Strategy in a previous Advisory, noting that the Strategy sought to ensure a high level of public health by increasing the availability, accessibility, and affordability of medicinal products throughout the EU and harmonize the internal market.

To meet these goals, the Commission has proposed substantial changes to the EU regulatory system, via a new Directive that will replace Directive 2001/83 (medicinal products for human use), and a new Regulation that will replace Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 (authorization and supervision of medicinal products), Regulation (EC) No 141/2000 (orphan medicinal products), and Regulation (EC) No 1901/2006 (pediatric medicines). The Proposals include changes to the regulatory protections available for medicinal products and orphan medicinal products and a new procedure relating to shortages of medicinal products. Continue Reading Proposed Amendments to the EU Regulatory Framework for Medicinal Products

On 31 January 2022, Regulation (EU) 2022/123 on a reinforced role for the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) in crisis preparedness and management for medicinal products and medical devices was published in the Official Journal of the EU. This Regulation sets out a stronger role for the EMA in managing public health crises, and aims to formalise the ad-hoc structures and processes that have been used by the EMA during the COVID-19 pandemic. The intention is that these ad hoc process can now serve as a blueprint for a more harmonised EU response to future public health emergencies.

The reinforced role of the EMA is seen as an important development for the European Health Union. It aims to ensure that the EU is better prepared to manage future health crises by tackling shortages of medicines and medical devices more effectively and to develop medical countermeasures to address the threats posed to public health at an early stage and in a harmonised way. As part of this, the Regulation sets out important provisions on monitoring shortages of medicines and devices, and a greater role of the EMA in overseeing medical devices.Continue Reading New EU Regulation Reinforcing the Role of the EMA