Welcome to our blog dedicated to Life Sciences. We report on EU and national regulatory, compliance, intellectual property and transactional developments in the sector. We focus on (bio)pharmaceuticals and medical technologies, and also cover food and beverages, cosmetics and other healthcare products.
U.S. – Healthcare accent is on smaller deals

18 December 2020 - Posted by: Paul Burns
Transactions in the U.S. healthcare space rebounded in autumn, although with a greater proportion of smaller deals than in recent years. In the year to date, deal value has fallen sharply, but volume has decreased only marginally. Megadeals, common in the sector two or three years ago, are less frequent now. However, we did see › Read More

08 December 2020 - Posted by: Thomas Masterman
On 26 November 2020, the European Commission (Commission) issued a decision fining pharmaceutical companies Teva and Cephalon EUR60.5 million for infringing Article 101 TFEU by agreeing to delay the entry of a cheaper generic version of Cephalon’s sleep disorder drug modafinil (the Decision). While the Decision completes the current cycle of the Commission’s “pay-for-delay” investigations, › Read More

30 November 2020 - Posted by: Tine Carmeliet
On 23 September 2020, the General Court of the European Union (GC) annulled a decision of the European Commission (Commission) that had withdrawn the orphan drug status of Trecondi (Treosulfan). This is an important decision as, for the first time, the GC has disagreed with the Commission’s restrictive approach to finding a “significant benefit” in › Read More
French Interministerial Mission on Drugs (MILDECA) reacts to CJEU Kanavape judgment
25 November 2020 - Posted by: Adrian Dykes
On 24 November 2020, following the decision of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) in the Kanavape case, the French Interministerial Mission for the Fight against Drugs and Addictive Behaviours (MILDECA) published an update on the legal status of cannabidiol (CBD) in France. The judgment, which was rendered on 19 November 2020, confirmed that CBD › Read More
19 November 2020 - Posted by:
Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its long-awaited decision in Case C-663/18 (Kanavape) ruling that a member state may not ban the marketing of cannabidiol (CBD) extracted from the Cannabis sativa plant in its entirety. In today’s judgment, the Court finds that EU law, in particular the provisions on the › Read More