Australia: Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences

A case on appeal in NSW focused on whether a sentence handed down for drug supply charges was excessive.

Synergistic combinations in patent law present unique challenges for inventors in chemical, pharmaceutical, and life sciences fields. While combining known components is common practice, only those combinations producing effects greater than the sum of their parts can constitute patentable inventions. This article explores the legal requirements, evidentiary standards, and practical strategies for successfully claiming synergistic effects under Australian patent law.

Australia's pharmaceutical patent landscape has reached a critical juncture, with appellate courts reconsidering fundamental principles of patent scope, term extensions, and remedies that will shape originator-generic disputes for the foreseeable future. As the High Court prepares to rule on patent term extensions for formulation patents and new Federal Court practice directions take effect, the strategic calculus for both innovators and generic entrants is being fundamentally rewritten.

Synergistic combinations in patent law present unique challenges for inventors in chemical, pharmaceutical, and life sciences fields. While combining known components is common practice, only those combinations producing effects greater than the sum of their parts can constitute patentable inventions. This article explores the legal requirements, evidentiary standards, and practical strategies for successfully claiming synergistic effects under Australian patent law.

US technology, pharma, and life science companies establishing Australian subsidiaries to access R&D tax incentives face complex international tax challenges. When intercompany agreements are drafted without proper coordination between US transfer pricing rules and Australian R&D Tax Incentive requirements, companies risk significant IRS exposure including platform contribution payment obligations, cost reallocations, and penalties that can exceed the intended tax benefits.

NSW Medical Council’s conditions imposed on a cardiothoracic surgeon were stayed under the National Law.

Ministerial Direction 105 allows the government to issue instructions to Home Affairs on how skilled visas should be prioritised, typically taking into account regional needs, sponsorship status and critical sectors.

In Gawthrop v Bendigo Health [2026] VSC 157, the Supreme Court of Victoria examined the context surrounding informed consent. The plaintiff presenting to hospital in labour was advised to undergo a vaginal examination as part of routine care for admission to the birthing unit.

The Full Bench of the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales has awarded substantial wage increases to nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing, following a finding that their work has been historically undervalued on gender-based grounds. The decision addresses systemic pay inequities in female-dominated healthcare professions while balancing economic considerations for the New South Wales public sector.