There can be no such thing as a COVID dividend, but the renewed digital push and momentum for health system change perhaps come closest.

COVID-19 has forced a rethink in how care should be delivered. Healthcomms Consulting partner Dan Jones says it is an opportunity that must not be squandered.

The turn of the year is a chance to reflect on times past and the future, to make resolutions and look ahead to changes for the better. With Brexit in mind, this is the time to prophesize on UK medtech’s immediate future.

An interim trade deal between the UK and Canada means that the regulators in these countries will carry on accepting each other’s batch testing and GMP certificates.

Not only might each day feel like Groundhog Day now – with COVID-19 limiting everyone’s activities. But early 2021 puts the EU medtech sector in a similar place to early 2020. So what has changed?

There may not be a great deal in the new UK-EU trade and cooperation deal for the life sciences industry but a new working group could act as the forum for constructive discussions on regulatory cooperation.

Government and industry in the UK are determined to make the best of the Brexit free trade deal, but German medtechs are eager for trade flow practicalities to be prioritized.

Companies seeking marketing authorizations in the UK or Great Britain will be able to make use of two new “reliance” procedures offering regulatory assessment times of 67 days or less if their products have already gone through the EU centralized or decentralized approval systems.

“No deal” was finally off the table for UK trade in goods with the EU after an 11th hour free trade agreement was reached. But for the UK, the decision effectively means a “hard Brexit.”