The BioSlice Blog, published by Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, focuses on regulatory, legal, and policy developments in the life sciences sector. It covers topics such as medical device regulations, pharmaceutical legislation reforms, intellectual property frameworks in healthcare, and digital health innovations. The blog provides analysis on EU and UK regulatory changes, compliance challenges, and industry impacts, including discussions on breakthrough and orphan device pathways, notified body regulations, NHS IP guidance updates, and antimicrobial resistance measures. It also addresses litigation, transactional, and public policy issues relevant to biotech, medtech, and pharmaceutical companies operating in regulated markets.
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 May and early June 2026 from the United Kingdom and European Union.
May…
Regulatory activity in the EU and UK over the past month has focused on AI in health care, health data access, and digital innovation frameworks. Recent regulatory developments in the EU and UK point to a decisive shift from high…
The MHRA’s proposed rare disease therapies regulatory framework (“the Proposed Framework”) represents an ambitious attempt to redesign medicines regulation around the realities of rare disease development.
On 21 May 2026, the MHRA launched its consultation on the Proposed Framework, representing…
Regulatory activity in the EU and UK over the past month has focused on accelerating the alignment of digital, AI, and life sciences regulatory frameworks, alongside increasing scrutiny of data governance and market readiness for emerging technologies. At the EU…
The MHRA has launched a consultation on proposed updates to the definition of gene therapy medicinal products (“GTMPs”) under the UK Human Medicines Regulations 2012 (“HMRs”). The current definition was originally developed in 2007, and was based on a smaller…
On 11 May 2026, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) opened a call for evidence on proposed changes to pre-market medical device and in vitro diagnostic medical device (“IVD”) requirements in Great Britain (“GB”) under the Medical Device…
On 7 May 2026, the European Parliament and Council announced a provisional political agreement on the AI Act portion of the Digital Omnibus package. According to the European Parliament’s press release and the Council’s press release, the agreement aims…
Background
On 20 April 2026, the Law Commission, an independent organisation established to keep the law of England and Wales under review and recommend reform, announced a new project to consider the potential introduction of a consumer class actions regime…
On 5 May 2026, the European Commission published an implementing regulation setting new procedural requirements for Notified Body assessments in medical device and IVD conformity assessment procedures (the “Implementing Regulation”). The Implementing Regulation aims to give manufacturers greater certainty in…
Introduction
Assays used in clinical trials vary widely in complexity and regulatory status.. They may be fully developed and marketed as in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVDs), including companion diagnostics (CDx), that clearly fall within the scope of the EU…
