Vital Signs Summer 2026

We are pleased to bring you the summer edition of Vital Signs, our quarterly round-up of legal and regulatory developments shaping the life sciences and healthcare sector.

In this issue, we consider the growing cyber threat facing life sciences and healthcare organisations, including recent incidents affecting Novo Nordisk’s clinical trial data and the Synnovis ransomware attack. We explore why boards and executive leadership must now treat cyber preparedness as a leadership priority rather than solely an IT matter.

Staying with Novo Nordisk, we examine the High Court’s landmark decision to order internet service providers to block websites selling counterfeit and unlicensed semaglutide products such as Ozempic and Wegovy. This is the first ruling of its kind to extend website blocking injunctions into the field of public health, together with the follow-up dynamic blocking order. We analyse what this means for pharmaceutical companies facing online counterfeiting threats.

In Poland, a recent amendment to the rules on medicinal product advertising now permits pharmaceutical companies to provide mandatory information to healthcare professionals via QR codes or hyperlinks, rather than full reproduction within advertising materials themselves. It’s a modest change on paper, but one that promises a meaningful practical impact for LSHC companies operating in Poland. We also take a broader look across the region, surveying the key regulatory developments in Central and Eastern Europe and the Adriatic region in 2026. These include the transposition of the cybersecurity EU NIS2 Directive, shifting market access and reimbursement rules, tightening anti corruption frameworks, and the approaching deadline for implementation of the new EU Product Liability Directive.

We hope this summer edition offers useful perspectives as you navigate these developments. As always, our team remains on hand to discuss any of the topics covered.