On 16 June 2025, the UK Medical Devices (Post-market Surveillance Requirements) (Amendment) (Great Britain) Regulations 2024 came into force, marking the first step in the reform of the UK legislation for medical devices. The regulations apply to Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland), and medical devices placed on the market in Northern Ireland must follow

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 April and early May 2025 from the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union.

Cybersecurity is a hot topic in the UK and EU this month. In both, cybersecurity plans are developing, with the European Commission conducting a consultation on the EU Action Plan to strengthen cybersecurity within hospitals and health care providers, and the UK Cyber Security and Resilience Bill being published, introduced partly because of cyberattacks on UK hospitals. This is clearly an important area for developers of digital products and services, who should watch the progress of these policies closely.

Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – May 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 March and early April 2025 from the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union.

The biggest change this month is that as of March 25, 2025, the European Health Data Space Regulation (EHDS Regulation) is now in force. This means that, as it is gradually implemented, companies will be able to request access to electronic health data for health care purposes, including for use in scientific research, and may be required to share certain health data that they hold. The implementation of the EHDS Regulation is likely to raise a number of questions, which future European Commission implementing regulations or guidelines may clarify.

Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – April 2025

 In our blog in December 2024, we provided an update on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) final rule, revising the regulatory definition of an in vitro diagnostic (IVD) to explicitly capture IVDs manufactured by laboratories (known as laboratory developed tests or LDTs). We noted that two cases had been filed challenging the

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 February and early March 2025 from the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been the focus this month, with certain aspects of the EU AI Act now in force and key guidance being published by the European Commission. In addition, the much criticized AI Liability Directive has been withdrawn by the European Commission. In the UK, the UK government published its AI Action Plan setting out its proportionate, flexible regulatory approach towards AI, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) hosted an Innovation Showcase demonstrating how it is using digital technologies and AI throughout the regulatory lifecycle.

Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – March 2025

On 6 February 2025, EU Member States announced the launch of a new pilot scheme for coordinated assessment of clinical investigations of medical devices (CI) and performance studies for in vitro diagnostic (IVD) medical devices (PS). Supported by the European Commission, the pilot allows sponsors to submit a single CI or PS application for review across multiple Member States, rather than each Member State conducting independent standalone reviews. The pilot scheme aims to make the application process for multi-national CI and PS more efficient and to reduce the duplication of activities by both the sponsor and competent authorities. As this has been a major cause of delays and complications in conducting CIs, this pilot will be welcomed by industry.

Continue Reading EU announces pilot coordinated assessment for clinical investigations of medical devices

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

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

Welcome to the last 2024 installment of Arnold & Porter’s Virtual and Digital Health Digest! This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during November and early December 2024 from the United Kingdom and European Union.

Of note, health authorities in the EU continue to develop methods to assess and recommend health apps. The latest is in Denmark, where new guidance has been published on how health apps will be assessed by the Board for Health Apps. The assessment criteria includes evidence of clinical effectiveness, usability, price, and value to society. This guidance is another important step to ensure greater access to health apps across the EU.

It has been a busy year in digital health and the impact to care delivery is only just beginning. We hope you will continue to follow the digest in 2025 as we track what we expect to be an even busier year.   

Wishing you the best for the new year! 
The Arnold & Porter Team 

Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – December 2024

The European Commission (‘Commission’) has published a Questions & Answers (‘Q&A’*) document on the new obligation to notify interruptions or discontinuations of the supply of medical devices under the Medical Devices Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/745, ‘MDR’) and the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/746, ‘IVDR’).

This new reporting obligation is set out in the newly introduced Articles 10a in both the IVDR and the MDR, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2024/1860. This obligation will start to apply on 10 January 2025.

Our blog focuses on the key requirements applying to manufacturers, and how these align with  the European Medicines Agency’s (‘EMA’) role to monitor medical device shortages.

Continue Reading Medical devices: European Commission issues Q&A on the obligation to notify supply interruptions and discontinuations