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

At the end of 2020, the European Commission set out its vision to build a European Health Union with its announcement of the new pharmaceutical strategy for Europe (the new Strategy). As we discussed in a previous blog, the new Strategy seeks to introduce new policies and ideas, whilst bringing into the spotlight long standing challenges which were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The new Strategy puts forward numerous proposals for legislative reforms that are likely to affect the regulation of the entire life cycle of a medicinal product and the regulation of medical devices. As a reminder, the key elements of the new Strategy relate to innovation, availability, accessibility, affordability, and supply of medicinal products.

In this post, we focus on the developments in the first half of 2021, including a pilot project launched by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on market access and the Commission’s Roadmap on revisions to the pharmaceutical legislation.Continue Reading Update on the European Commission’s proposed new pharmaceutical strategy