Last week, Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, published his Spring Budget for the UK. It identified life sciences and digital technologies as “high growth sectors,” which the UK Government wishes to prioritize. Among other things, the Budget outlined the Government’s plans to simplify medicines and technology approvals
Continue Reading UK MHRA to recognize foreign regulatory approvals for medicines and medical technologies and promote digital innovationGrant Castle
Grant Castle is a partner in London, Brussels, and Dublin practicing in the areas of EU, UK, and Irish life sciences regulatory law. He supports innovative pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and diagnostics manufacturers on regulatory, compliance, legislative, policy, market access and public law litigation matters in the EU, UK, and Irish Courts.
He is one of the Co-chairs of Covington's Life Sciences Industry Group and is Head of Covington's European Life Sciences Regulatory Practice.
Grant regularly advises on:
- EU and UK regulatory pathways to market for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, including in vitro diagnostics and on associated product life cycle management;
- Pharmaceutical GxPs, including those governing pharmacovigilance, manufacturing, the supply chain and both clinical and non-clinical research;
- Medical device CE and UKCA marking, quality systems, device vigilance and rules governing clinical investigations and performance evaluations of medical devices and in vitro diagnostics;
- Advertising and promotion of both pharmaceuticals and medical devices; and
- Pricing, reimbursement and market access for both pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
Grant also handles procedural matters before EU, UK and Irish regulators and UK and Irish market access bodies, where necessary bringing judicial reviews for his life sciences clients before the EU, UK and Irish Courts.
Chambers UK has ranked Grant in Band 1 for Life Sciences Regulatory for the last 21 years. He is recognized by Chambers UK, Life Sciences as "excellent," "a knowledgeable lawyer with a strong presence in the industry," who provides "absolutely first-rate regulatory advice," according to sources, who also describe him as "one of the key players in that area,” whilst Chambers Global sources report that "he worked in the sector for many years, and has a thorough understanding of how the industry ticks." He is praised by clients for his "absolutely first-rate" European regulatory practice. Legal 500 UK notes that he is "highly competent in understanding legal and technical biological issues."
ICMRA Publishes Report and Recommendations on AI and Medicinal Products
The International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (“ICMRA”) has published a report on the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) to develop medicines (the “AI Report”) that provides a series of recommendations on how regulators and stakeholders can address challenges posed by AI. The ICMRA notes that there are numerous opportunities to apply AI to medicines development, but that AI poses a number of challenges to existing regulatory frameworks. The AI Report discusses these opportunities and challenges in detail based on several case studies, and provides a set of recommendations for implementation by the ICMRA and its member authorities, which includes the European Medicines Agency (the “EMA”), the USA’s Food and Drug Administration, and the World Health Organisation. Based on the AI report, we expect to see an increased focus on adapting regulatory frameworks to deal with AI products going forwards both on an international and national level.
Continue Reading ICMRA Publishes Report and Recommendations on AI and Medicinal Products
NICE adopts evidence standards for the development and assessment of digital health technologies (DHTs)
The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recently published an evidence standards framework for DHTs (the Standards), available here. It did so through a working group led by NHS England, but supported by representatives from Public Health England, MedCity and DigitalHealth.London.
The Standards cover DHTs,…
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Key Takeaways from Covington’s Webinar about Digital Health Associated with Pharmaceuticals
On February 1, 2018, Covington’s Digital Health team hosted a webinar examining U.S. and EU regulatory issues for digital health associated with pharmaceuticals. Here are some key takeaways from that webinar:
- Neela Paykel from Proteus Digital Health, noted that “you need to think outside the box for how to engage,
The Evolving FDA and EU Equivalent Regulation of Digital Health: A Device Perspective
On November 14, lawyers from Teva Pharmaceuticals and Covington & Burling discussed digital health innovation from a medical device regulation perspective in the U.S. and the EU. The presentation by Rachel Turow, Executive Counsel – Regulatory Law, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Grant Castle, Scott Danzis, Sarah Cowlishaw, and Christina Kuhn of…
Continue Reading The Evolving FDA and EU Equivalent Regulation of Digital Health: A Device Perspective