The Contours of Pharmaceutical Regulation in the EU

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic revealed critical fragilities in global supplies of medicines. Canada, which had divested itself of any national vaccine production capacity by 1986, was obliged to compete with numerous other states for access to vaccines.

At the same time, its precarious reliance on large pharmaceutical multinationals for vaccine procurement and antivirals compromised its ability to enact regulatory measures in the pharmaceutical sector that would have made prescription drugs more accessible to the public.

Covid-19 was similarly disruptive in other jurisdictions, which were forced to rethink the way in which public health resources and powers are governed. The institutional responses of the European Union (EU), for example, have included the creation of a Health Emergency preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and a significant proposed amendment to medicines regulation. Yet EU powers over these matters are controversial.

This workshop will bring together scholars across Europe and North America to address the evolving governance frameworks addressing medicines, devices, and equipment essential for effective functioning of health care systems and providing care to patients and protecting public health.