About Life Sciences Law
Lexis®+ Life Sciences is an online practical guidance product for contentious and non-contentious lawyers providing advice to and supporting the UK’s Life Sciences sector.
Research and development
Highly regulated, with strict compliance rules, work can be in-house or in collaboration with another entity. Guidance includes practice notes on UK and EU regime for clinical trials and various precedents.
Intellectual property
Patents and supplementary protection certificates are significant to many life sciences businesses. We have practice notes on pharmaceutical patents, biotechnology patents, IP protection for medical devices and more.
Medicinal products
This content includes guidance on marketing authorisations, orphan and paediatric medicines, pharmacovigilance, manufacturing, unlicensed and off-label medicines.
Medical devices
Covering key areas of medical devices regulation including classification, conformity assessments, clinical and performance evaluation as well as post-market surveillance.
Topics We Cover
Latest Life Sciences News
The European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety HAS announced that from 28 May 2026, the use of four modules of the European...
The Health Research Authority (HRA) has published a plan for 2026–28 setting out how it intends to support the use of AI in health and social care...
The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published three interlocking studies on bioinformatics quality controls for genomic...
MedTech Europe has published its response to the European Commission’s consultation on the revision of the EU Cybersecurity Act, supporting stronger...
This week's edition of Life Sciences weekly highlights includes news that the MHRA has launched a consultation on its draft rare disease therapies...
Latest Life Sciences Practice Notes
Pharmacovigilance is the process of collecting and understanding information relating to the adverse effects of medicinal product throughout their use...
This Practice Note is intended to be used to track the progress of UK cases relevant to the life sciences sector.Jump...
This Practice Note is intended to be used to track the progress of EU cases relevant to the life sciences sector.For archived items on life sciences,...
This Practice Note tracks the progress of amending legislation, implementing acts, key guidance and initiatives introduced to assist stakeholders in...
This Practice Note tracks the progress of UK legislation introduced as part of the legislative project associated with the UK’s withdrawal from the...
Latest Life Sciences Precedents
Strictly private and confidentialTo: [insert buyer name][insert buyer address]Date: [insert date]Dear [insert buyer contact name],Proposed acquisition...
These training materials consist of template PowerPoint slides that can be used as the basis of one or more training seminars on the United Kingdom...
These Precedent sustainability definitions, produced by The Chancery Lane Project (TCLP) as part of its climate change glossary, provide definitions...
1Appointment and powersWe, [insert name of company] a company incorporated in [England and Wales] under number [insert registered number] whose...
The Directors[Insert name of company][(Company)][Insert address][Insert date]Dear [Directors],General notification of interest in an existing...
Latest Life Sciences Q&As
Featured Life Sciences content
Introduction to technology transfer agreements in the Life Sciences industry
Introduction to technology transfer agreements in the Life Sciences industryWhat is a technology transfer agreement?The term ‘technology transfer...
Regulation of cosmetic products in the UK
Regulation of cosmetic products in the UKThis Practice Note provides an overview of the UK regulatory framework for cosmetics. It sets out the legal...
Intellectual property protection for medical devices
Intellectual property protection for medical devicesChanges to intellectual property (IP) law from 1 January 2021Before discussing how intellectual...
Second and subsequent medical use patent claims
Second and subsequent medical use patent claimsBackground to medical use claimsSecond (and subsequent) medical use patent claims are specific to the...
The experimental use and Bolar-type exemptions to patent infringement
The experimental use and Bolar-type exemptions to patent infringementPatent systems are intended to foster innovation, not to impede it. For this...
The 2024 ABPI Code of Practice—what are the key proposed changes?
The PMCPA has recently launched a consultation to update:•the 2021 ABPI Code of Practice•the Constitution and Procedure which sets out how the PMCPA...
Clinical Research Organisation (CRO) master services agreement
Clinical Research Organisation (CRO) master services agreementDATA PROTECTION NOTICE: Please note that the drafting of clause 7 (Data Protection), in...
The EU Clinical Trials Regulation
The EU Clinical Trials RegulationThis Practice Note looks at Regulation (EU) 536/2014, the EU Clinical Trials Regulation (CTR), which governs clinical...
Medical devices due diligence questionnaire
Medical devices due diligence questionnaireIntroductionThis medical devices regulatory due diligence questionnaire relates to the proposed purchase by...
Biotechnology patents
Biotechnology patentsPatenting biotechnological inventionsBiotechnological inventions are, in principle, patentable. While there is no general...
Unlicensed medicinal products and off-label use of medicinal products
Unlicensed medicinal products and off-label use of medicinal productsThis Practice Note explores unlicensed medicinal products and the various ways...
MHRA releases guidance on pharmacovigilance following Windsor Framework agreement
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has released guidance on the implementation of changes to pharmacovigilance for...
The regulation of medical devices in the UK
The regulation of medical devices in the UKThis Practice Note provides an overview of the UK regulatory regime for medical devices. It explains the...
Court of Appeal allows appeal in British Standards v RRR Manufacturing
The National Archives has published the judgment in British Standards Institution v RRR Manufacturing Pty Ltd, R (on the application of) [2024] EWCA...
CMA announces Phase 1 merger inquiry into Roche Diagnostics
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced a Phase 1 merger inquiry into Roche Diagnostics Ltd's acquisition of point-of-care testing...
DSIT publishes international scientific report on advanced AI safety
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has released the interim International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced...
The regulation of advanced therapy medicinal products
The regulation of advanced therapy medicinal productsThe development of medicine, biomicrobiology and biotechnology has led to the emergence of a...
Associated legal terms
Active device (or active medical device)
Generally, active devices refer to medical devices powered by electricity or any source of power other than that generated by the human body or gravity. Examples are examination lights, surgical microscopes, gas pressure regulators or blood pumps for heart-lung machines or devices for viewing diagnostic images such as ultrasound images. Under Regulation (EU) 2017/745 (EU MDR), ‘active device means any device, the operation of which depends on a source of energy other than that generated by the human body for that purpose, or by gravity, and which acts by changing the density of or converting that energy. Devices intended to transmit energy, substances or other elements between an active device and the patient, without any significant change, shall not be deemed to be active devices. Software shall also be deemed to be an active device’. UK legislation compounds the definition of an ‘active’ device with implantable devices.
Generic
A medicinal product which contains the same active substances and has the same pharmaceutical form as the original branded reference medicinal product, and whose bioequivalence with the reference medicinal product has been demonstrated by appropriate bioavailability studies, as defined in Article 10(2)(b) of Directive 2001/83/EC.
Orphan medicinal product
A medicinal product that is used to prevent, diagnose or treat a rare medical condition or disease. In the EU, according to Regulation (EC) 141/2000, a disease is defined as rare if it affects fewer than 5 in 10,000 people across the EU.
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