The ICO recently announced its plan to bring the UK’s top 1,000 websites into compliance with applicable data protection law, in relation to their use of cookies. At the time of the announcement, the ICO had already checked 200 websites, and communicated its concerns to 134 of their operators. This suggests a prevalence of non-compliant
ICO guidance
Virtual and Digital Health Digest – February 2025
Welcome to the latest installment of Arnold & Porter’s Virtual and Digital Health Digest. This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during January and early February 2025 from the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union.
In this issue, we discuss some useful international guidance documents from the International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF). These include Guiding Principles on Good Machine Learning Practices (GMLP) that build on the principles previously set out by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and Health Canada, and guidance on characterization and risks of medical device software. The continued development of international guidance in this area highlights the importance of coordination between regulatory authorities and standardized guidance for these products. There have also been important developments in ongoing litigation relating to digital technologies, although whether these developments provide clear guidance to manufacturers remains to be seen.Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – February 2025
Virtual and Digital Health Digest – January 2025
Welcome to the latest installment of Arnold & Porter’s Virtual and Digital Health Digest. This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during December 2024 and early January 2025 from the United Kingdom, and European Union.
In this issue, we feature the emerging trends in digital health in 2024 that have been highlighted in IQVIA’s recent report. The IQIVA report is a yearly summary of digital health trends and gives a good snapshot of the market. The latest report notes that Germany continues to lead in its approval and reimbursement of digital therapeutics, followed by the United States and UK.Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – January 2025
Virtual and Digital Health Digest – November 2024
This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during October and early November 2024 from the United Kingdom and European Union.
Regulatory and legislative reform is on the horizon in both the UK and in the EU, which will impact software and artificial intelligence (AI) medical devices. The UK government recently published the new medical devices post-market surveillance rules, which could be in place by summer 2025. Further, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) priorities until spring 2025 are focused on the draft pre-market rules for devices, the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) roadmap, and guidance on AI development and deployment. In the EU, industry should watch the potential upcoming reform of the Medical Devices and In-Vitro Medical Devices Regulations, with increasingly urgent calls for reform from key stakeholders gaining traction with the institutions.Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – November 2024
Virtual and Digital Health Digest – October 2024
This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during September and early October 2024 from the United Kingdom and European Union.
Guidance on AI continues to be published. In the EU, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has published its Reflection Paper on the use of AI throughout the medicines life cycle. In the UK, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) opened applications for its AI Airlock, a regulatory sandbox for AI as Medical Devices. And over 100 companies have signed up to join the EU AI Pact, a voluntary initiative to encourage companies to comply with the AI Act before the statutory deadlines. These guidance documents and initiatives provide companies with much greater clarity on how the authorities will regulate the use of AI in health care.Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – October 2024
Clinical trial consents under the EU GDPR: where do we stand?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force on 25 May 2018 and, in the absence of any transition period, companies are now expected to be in full compliance with the new requirements. However, with key guidance from regulators only recently released or still in progress, and national implementing legislation enacted at the eleventh hour, developing a GDPR-compliant approach to consent in the context of clinical trials remains an ongoing project. This post reviews the guidance available to date.
Continue Reading Clinical trial consents under the EU GDPR: where do we stand?