European Union: Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences

Northern Ireland's Food Standards Agency and Department of Health are consulting on new restrictions for promoting products high in fat, sugar and salt, aiming to align with UK-wide measures while grappling with which nutrient profiling model to adopt. The proposed regulations would limit volume price promotions, product placement in prominent retail locations, and free refill promotions for sugar-sweetened drinks, with enforcement handled by local councils.

The Belgian Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products has issued comprehensive new guidance on pharmaceutical promotion to healthcare professionals, consolidating previous circulars and introducing stricter...

Belgium introduces significant reforms to pharmaceutical law through the Act of 30 May 2026, addressing critical medicine shortages through enhanced export controls and stock allocation measures. The legislation also modernizes the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products' operational framework and adapts clinical trial regulations to support decentralized research models.

The European Union has spent the last decade reshaping the digital regulatory landscape through landmark legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the AI Act. The European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation is the next significant step in that evolution. While often described as a healthcare initiative, the EHDS is at its core a data governance framework designed to unlock the value of electronic health data while safeguarding fundamental rights and promoting innovation.

The Belgian Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products has issued comprehensive new guidance on pharmaceutical promotion to healthcare professionals, consolidating previous circulars and introducing stricter...

Greenberg Traurig attorneys explore the complexities of entering the European healthcare market, examining how the EU's conformity-based regulatory system differs from the FDA model and why product classification decisions can make or break market entry.

The European Commission has launched its first formal antitrust investigation in the medical devices sector, examining whether Align Technology may have abused its dominant position by restricting interoperability between its Invisalign clear aligners and competing intra-oral scanners. The investigation focuses on allegations that the company created a closed ecosystem, forcing dental professionals to purchase iTero scanners to access Invisalign products for their patients.

The OECD has released two groundbreaking test guidelines specifically designed for nanomaterials, addressing critical gaps in standardized testing methods for dustiness determination and environmental fate assessment. These new protocols provide regulatory frameworks for measuring how nano-objects behave under various conditions, supporting decision-making processes across OECD member countries. The guidelines build upon existing OECD testing standards while introducing specialized methodologies tailored to

A European Patent Office Technical Board of Appeal decision examines when algorithmic features in medical monitoring systems can support inventive step claims. The case centers on a blood glucose variability measurement system where the technical effect depends critically on the observation period, raising fundamental questions about claim scope and technical contribution.