Co-Chair
Renata
Fialho de Oliveira
Co-Chair
Anne Walsh
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
Licensing with strategic partners in life sciences
12 Jan 2026 1600 - 1700 GMT
Webinar
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
The legal landscape for the use of AI in drug discovery in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the global pharmaceutical industry through its expanding role in drug discovery. From identifying novel compounds to enhancing clinical trial processes, its influence is increasingly evident in Southeast Asian countries, where the intellectual property (IP) regime faces new challenges posed by AI-generated pharmaceutical inventions. For legal practitioners, providing sound counsel in this evolving field requires a deep understanding of the IP framework and the uncertainties that surround it in Southeast Asia.
Released on Dec 08, 2025
Managing drug stocks: current issues in France and challenges at European level
Drug shortages are becoming increasingly frequent, due to multiple factors. At French and European levels, regulations have been strengthened and impose more obligations on pharmaceutical companies. While patient protection and treatment availability are indisputable priorities, the obligations imposed on manufacturers must remain proportionate and compatible with economic, logistical and technical realities. Indeed, the response cannot be limited to a constant tightening of obligations (and penalties) weighing on pharmaceutical companies. A more global and concerted approach is needed, particularly at European level, to reconcile the imperatives of health safety and the economic realities of the pharmaceutical sector.
Released on Dec 04, 2025
Brazilian regulatory expectations for connected medical devices
This article examines the cybersecurity and data protection requirements for connected medical devices in Brazil, integrating the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency’s (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitári or ANVISA) device safety guidance (including Guide No. 38/2020) with the General Data Protection Law’s (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais or LGPD) obligations when dealing with sensitive health data. The article concludes with a set of practical measures to align clinical safety, regulatory compliance and resilience during Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) and software as a medical device (SaMD) deployments.
Released on Dec 04, 2025
Navigating 2024: the Italian venture capital biotech market and the crucial role of intellectual property assets as a deal maker or deal breaker
This article aims to provide a preliminary outline of the major venture capital (VC) trends in the life sciences sector targeting Italian biotech companies, mainly operating in certain specific sub-segments, as a result of it being ascertained that the Italian life sciences market ranked as one of the most funded industries by VC in 2024. The article focuses on the importance of intellectual property (IP) assets in VC life science deals, through a discussion of how IP generally qualify as a ‘deal maker’ or ‘deal breaker’, capable of having a significative impacts on all the phases of VC deals: (1) related to the due diligence process and regardless of whether the biotech is the IP owner or uses such IP in the context of a licence agreement; (2) taking into account specific peculiarities of the Italian legal framework, such as the reform of the so-called abolition of the professor’s privilege; and (iii) with a focus on the contractual structure of VC deals, by pointing out some of the most common closing conditions and the market standards in terms of the release of IP representations and warranties.
Released on Jun 02, 2025
Subcommittees and other groups
The Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee also coordinates the activities of the following subcommittees/working groups.
- Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee Advisory Board
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/.