Co-Chair
Alan Adcock
Co-Chair
Renata
Fialho de Oliveira
Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee
The Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee addresses legal issues in the healthcare and life sciences sectors, such as medicine, intellectual property, biotech, bioethics, regulatory matters, and scientific developments. With a dynamic, diverse, and growing membership, the Committee fosters collaboration to tackle industry challenges, such as increased competition and regulatory changes.
We provide a platform for discussion, sharing knowledge, and updating members on key developments. Through conferences, seminars, and global events, the Committee promotes professional growth, enabling members to benefit from advanced practices in well-established jurisdictions while supporting those new to this field.
Why join the Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee
We provide a platform for discussion, sharing knowledge, and updating members on key developments. Through conferences, seminars, and global events, the Committee promotes professional growth, enabling members to benefit from advanced practices in well-established jurisdictions while supporting those new to this field.
Forthcoming conferences and webinars View All Conferences
12th Annual IBA World Life Sciences Conference
03 Jun - 05 Jun 2026
Lisbon , Portugal
IBA Annual Conference Copenhagen 2026
04 Oct - 09 Oct 2026
Copenhagen , Denmark
Projects
IBA Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee annual global surveys
Each year the Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee has produced a new comparative legal guide covering a highly relevant topic in over 50 countries, comprising responses to a survey. This guide is intended to offer practitioners and industry users easy access to the relevant applicable rules. In 2025, the Committee looked at healthcare financing and reimbursement. In 2024, the Committee summarised the requirements for promoting pharmaceutical and medical devices. In 2023, the Committee addressed questions related to telemedicine.
Publications
Cross-border intellectual property litigation: a Latin American look with a focus on life sciences and patent enforcement
This article aims to give some advice on how to design a cross-border litigation strategy in Latin America with a focus on the life sciences industry and patent enforcement. Considering such frame, our analysis will encompass the scenario in Brazil and Mexico (the two biggest economies of the region) and Mercosur, giving hints on Latam specific issues concerning the interplay between patent protection and health regulations as well as prosecution strategies.
Released on May 12, 2026
FDA’s Departure from conventional policymaking procedures: policy by journal articles
When the new administration took office in January 2025, it introduced a nontraditional form of policymaking at the United States Food and Drug Administration: drug approval reforms announced in restricted-access journal articles. The policy changes outlined in these articles range from introducing a new regulatory approach for individualised therapies to changing the number of clinical investigations generally required for drug approval from two to one. Such policymaking via a journal article lacks many procedural safeguards. This article explores why policymaking in this manner is potentially inconsistent with US administrative law principles under the Administrative Procedure Act and with FDA’s own statutory and regulatory regime, as set forth in the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997. We conclude that regulated industry and the public must pursue creative strategies for communicating their needs to the Agency or urge FDA to comply with its procedural obligations. Doing so will ensure that FDA’s policies better account for the interests of industry and the people the Agency serves.
Released on May 12, 2026
Left to our devices: connected care and its legal challenges
The quiet revolution in healthcare is no longer happening in the operating theatre; it is happening on our wrists, in our pockets, and in the cloud. Wearables, home monitoring kits, and AI-driven dashboards promise continuous, connected care, but they also drag hospitals and manufacturers into a thicket of regulatory, liability, and data-governance questions that traditional health law was not designed to answer.
Released on May 12, 2026
All change in the EU: impact of the new EU legislation on combination products in the UK and Switzerland
The European Union’s pharmaceutical reforms will significantly reform medicines regulation, but changes for combination products are more limited, codifying definitions and providing a framework for coordination; applicants must still comply with both the medicines and devices rules. The United Kingdom and Switzerland often align with EU rules but retain separate frameworks; greater divergence may add complexity. The UK remains broadly aligned post-Brexit, but increased divergence may create challenges for reliance pathways and coordination. Switzerland’s authorisation system remains distinct, but alignment on devices means EU device approaches may influence Swissmedic. Overall, impacts are initially procedural, though future EMA developments could drive further divergence.
Released on May 12, 2026
Subcommittees and other groups
The Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee also coordinates the activities of the following subcommittees/working groups.
- Development, Innovation and Commercial Transactions Subcommittee
- Digital Healthcare and Regulation Subcommittee
- Food and Supplements Subcommittee
- Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee Advisory Board
- Healthcare Regulatory and Financing Subcommittee
Join us on LinkedIn
If you are a member of the Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee, for additional networking opportunities, programs, interviews with fellow members and tips all exclusive to members, join our LinkedIn page at: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9166617/.