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Earlier this week, the Commission published a new Regulation amending Regulation 726/2004 that governs the centralised procedure and that sets out the rules for the EMA: Regulation 2019/5. Many of the changes move and consolidate the provisions set out in other Regulations into Regulation 726/2004 on the centralised procedure (known as the Regulation on the Centralised Procedure). We are preparing a more detailed advisory of the implications of the new Regulation, but some headline points are as follows:

Continue Reading New EU Regulation amending rules on centralised procedure

Arnold & Porter’s Future Pharma Forum invites you to a complimentary regulatory seminar aimed at junior lawyers and new joiners in the UK/EU life sciences industry. We will provide a comprehensive introduction to key EU regulatory law topics from an in-house practitioner’s perspective and touch on the implications of Brexit.

Topics

  • Overview of the EU pharmaceutical law framework
  • Clinical trials, unlicensed supply and compassionate use
  • Obtaining marketing authorisations
  • Incentives: regulatory data protection, marketing protection, orphan market exclusivity and paediatric rewards
  • Pharmacovigilance
  • Advertising and promotion of medicinal products
  • Pricing and reimbursement in the UK
  • Supply chains

Who is it relevant for?

The Future Pharma Forum is a group established to provide training and networking opportunities for junior and mid-level lawyers in the life sciences industry. We conduct seminars and events aimed at junior and mid-level lawyers up to around 8 years PQE. There are no formal entry or membership requirements— please feel free to pass this to colleagues who might be interested in attending.

More information is on the website, and you can sign up here.

The next Future Pharma Forum will be on 27 September: Implications of Recent EU and UK Court Decisions in the Pharmaceutical Sector

Emily MacKenzie, Barrister at Brick Court Chambers, will join us to recap on how challenges to pharmaceutical decisions may be brought to the European and domestic courts. Emily will provide a summary of recent European Court and English Court decisions in the pharmaceutical area and we will explore the implications for pharmaceutical companies.

Topics

  • How to bring challenges to the European Court
  • The interplay of domestic proceedings
  • Summary of recent European Court decisions, including:
    • Shire on orphan market exclusivity and;
    • Astellas on the role of the Concerned Member State
  • Summary of recent English Court decisions, including Napp on the Article 10(3) hybrid-abridged procedure
  • Changes in the Notice to Applicants regarding RDP, including the “reverse combination” principle
  • The implications for pharmaceutical companies

More information can be found on our website, and you can sign up here. Hope to see you there!

In a report published on 16 July regarding the implementation of its flagship policy on the publication of clinical data (Policy 0070), the EMA has announced that Brexit and the Agency’s relocation will result in some areas of work being “temporarily reprioritised, suspended or postponed to resource Brexit preparedness activities and safeguard core activities”. The Agency has explained that this will mean a reduced publication of clinical data during the second half of 2018 and in 2019. However, it notes that this reduction is only temporary and its “proactive publication level” will be restored to the level set out at the start of the policy once the relocation is completed.

This follows its previous announcement, on 27 June 2018, explaining that the Agency is no longer in a position to process access to documents requests issued from outside the EU.

The report also sheds light on the total number of documents published on the Clinical Data Publication (CDP) website, the amount of commercially confidential information (CCI) redacted, the reasons for rejecting redactions and the anonymisation techniques used by the Agency.

The report indicates that the EMA accepted 24% of CCI redactions proposed by pharmaceutical companies, with the overall result that only 0.01% of 1.3 million pages (3,000 documents) published contained CCI redactions. The most common reasons for rejecting redactions were insufficient justification and information already existing in the public domain. The key reasons for accepting redactions were the provision of detailed information on analytical assays or methods and justifications based on future development plans.

Yesterday, the UK Government finally published its White Paper setting out its position on the UK’s continued relationship with the EU post-Brexit. Theresa May has said it “delivers on the Brexit people voted for”, although others in Parliament disagree. While at a very early stage of the negotiations, and with no real indication of how the European Commission has received the White Paper, other than that it represents important progress for focusing the further discussions, we set out below the key points for the supply and manufacture of medicinal products and medical devices after Brexit.

Continue Reading UK Government’s Brexit White Paper

On 27 June 2018, the EMA published a short notification on its website informing readers that “The Agency is no longer in a position to process access to documents requests issued from outside the EU.”

Article 2(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, setting out the EU legislative framework for freedom of information (the Public Access Regulation), provides EU institutions with the discretion to disclose to individuals from third countries documents they have drawn-up or received, provided the conditions of such access are no less restrictive than that provided to EU citizens under Article 2(1) of the same regulation. This change in policy means that only “Citizens of the EU and natural or legal persons residing or having their registered office in an EU Member State have the right of access to EMA documents.” Continue Reading Update to the EMA’s Position on Access to Documents

Yesterday, the EMA launched a new secure online portal called IRIS for the submission of applications for orphan designation and the management of post-designation activities. The aim is for the portal to be used for all activities relating to orphan designation, including applying for orphan designation, requesting pre-submission meetings, responding to requests for supplementary information and transferring orphan designation to a new sponsor. The hope is that this will provide a “comprehensive procedural and scientific support system for orphan designations”, and IRIS is being treated as a “pilot for [a] future Agency-wide platform for procedure management”. Continue Reading Launch of the EMA’s Orphan Designation Portal

While the Clinical Trials Regulation (EU No. 536/2014) (the Regulation) was adopted in April 2014, the Regulation does not come into operation until 6 months after the clinical trials portal and database (the EUPD) has been set up, independently audited, and notification of the successful audit published by the Commission. The operation of this database has been delayed a number of times, as the development of a system to cover so many aspects of the new Regulation is taking longer than expected.

Continue Reading Update on the EU Clinical Trials Portal and Database

The new EudraVigilance drug safety monitoring system has now been up and running for nearly 5 months, and the EMA has recently published an updated Q&A, featuring questions submitted by users, either through the service desk, or following the various technical and pharmacovigilance webinars run by the EMA.

Continue Reading New EudraVigilance System – Updated Q&As

The European Ombudsman, who investigates complaints of maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union, recently handed down its decision in a case against the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The complaint concerned the EMA’s refusal to disclose the identity of parties who request access to documents held by the EMA. In the past, the EMA had stated that the “identity and/or the name of the organisation of the requestor will be used for the sole purpose of processing the request and will not be disclosed to third parties”. Instead, third parties, including the owner of the document requested, would only be told the request came from a “pharmaceutical company” or “law firm”. Last week, the Ombudsmen confirmed that the EMA has changed its policy in light of its recommendations.

Continue Reading EMA’s revised approach to disclosure of the parties who request access to documents