Julian spoke at the Royal Society of Medicine on the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation and other impending EU regulations on medical and healthcare apps and related digital healthcare systems.

In an article published in BioNews (here), Julian discusses the regulation of embryonic gene editing in the UK following the HFEA's decision to extend the Francis Crick Institute's research licence to include studies involving CRISPR/Cas9 embryonic gene editing.

Julian spoke on regulatory strategies for translating genome editing and CRISPR therapeutics into the clinic at Informa's Genome Editing Applications Conference in Brussels.

Julian spoke at the University of Cambridge's inter-disciplinary workshop on gene editing at Jesus College, Cambridge. The meeting was organised by the University's Public Policy Strategic Initiative in association with the Welcome Trust - Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.

Julian spoke on human embryonic gene editing in research at the Festival of Genomics in London. The discussion was organised by the Progress Educational Trust.

Denoon Legal congratulates Alain Vertes, Nasib Quershi, Arnold Caplan and Lee Babiss on the launch of the comprehensive textbook 'Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine' published by Wiley Blakewell (here).

Alex Denoon and Julian Hitchcock of Denoon Legal were proud to contribute a chapter regarding the European regulatory and IP landscape together with James Lawford Davies.

We are very pleased to announce that Julian has been appointed as a Trustee at the Science Media Centre (“SMC”). The SMC is an independent venture working to promote the voices, stories and views of the scientific community to the national news media when science is in the headlines. 

Alex attended a meeting in Brussels organised by the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine. This was the "kick off" meeting of the Health Data Access & Accountability Task Force. Attendees included representatives from patient organisations, clinicians and researchers; pharmaceutical companies; software and hardware companies and representatives from European Commission.

Alex co-presented on managing a disaster scenario with Dominic Hornblow from Astra Zeneca and Aileen Thompson from the ABPI.

On 7 September, Julian spoke on the impact of regulation on innovation policy at @MEIbioeng15, the UK’s largest gathering of biomedical engineers, bioengineers and medical engineers. The event was organised by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the University of Leeds.

Julian helped to found the life science stream of the University's international enterprise course, Ignite, in 2010. Details may be found here.

We will continue to focus solely on Life Sciences, working with our colleagues and friends in the Alliance of European Life Sciences Law Firms, to continue to deliver specialist advice to life sciences leaders in this dynamic sector. Clients demand specialist advice to manage the fast-moving legal, regulatory and policy landscape in Europe and the UK.

James Lawford Davies has joined Hempsons, a leading UK healthcare practice. We wish James well in his new role.

Denoon Legal Limited is the same legal entity as Lawford Davies Denoon Limited and maintains the same registration details and service offering.

Alex spoke at the Clinical Operations & Outsourcing Medical Device Trials Conference in Munich on 11 February 2015. Alex gave a presentation on the ‘Ramifications of the changes to data protection framework on clinical investigations’.

Alex spoke at the IMCAS Annual World Congress 2015 Conference in Paris on 29 January 2015. Alex gave a presentation on the ‘Regulation of Stem Cell Therapies in UK’.

Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) gave its judgment in the important stem cell patent case, International Stem Cell Corporation v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks. Nature’s report of the decision, which concerned the patentability of human parthenotes in Europe, reported remarks by LDD’s Julian Hitchcock about serious evidential flaws in the landmark Brüstle case of 2011. 

Julian is giving a lecture on "Inflammatory property: the ambiguous relationship between life sciences and intellectual property" at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge on 28 November 2014.

Julian gave a presentation on the law and regulation of health apps at a joint meeting of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Academy of Engineering in London on 18 November 2014.

Lawford Davies Denoon is delighted to be recognised as ‘a niche life sciences firm’ with ‘specialist regulatory and litigation capabilities, in areas such as medical devices, cell therapies and IVF law’ in the latest (2014) edition of the Legal 500. Alex Denoon is commended for delivering ‘out-of-the-box solutions'. Julian Hitchcock recognised as ‘commercially astute with technical insight’. Please see here for the full review.

Julian Hitchcock, as guest blogger for this week's Managing Intellectual Property, writes on the potential impact of the International Stem Cell patent case in the Court of Justice of the European Union (here).

Evidence from Lawford Davies Denoon, in connection with the life science sector, figured in the UK Government's Review of the Competences between the United Kingdom and the European Union: Fundamental Rights, published on 22 July 2014 (here).

Julian spoke at the Entrepreneurship: Emerging Technologies (ETECH Projects) Programme, hosted by the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, on 21 May 2014. Julian presented a lecture on intellectual property exploitation to MPhil and MBA students (Emerging Technologies Projects).

LDD is supporting the Wellcome Trust, which has lead a group of 31 research organisations across Europe in a statement opposing radical legislative proposals contained in the “One of Us” citizens’ initiative, the effect of which would be to block EU funding for research involving the use of surplus IVF embryos and to threaten implementation of the fifth UN Millenium Development Goal which seeks to ensure universal access to reproductive health. Interviewed by Science magazine, Julian Hitchcock said that the Brüstle patent case, upon which the campaigners rest their case, does not declare the point at which human life and dignity begins.

European Society of Human Genetics today publishes a legal Opinion by LDD and Axon, challenging the legitimacy of controversial amendments to the proposed IVD Regulation.

Alex co-chaired a session on ‘Intellectual Property: The Legal view’at the 17th International Conference on Pharmaceutical Medicine and 30th DGPharMed Annual Meeting in Berlin on 20th March 2014.

We are very pleased that the HFEA have decided not to appeal against last week's High Court judgment. The HFEA issued a press release here which states that they "have concluded that the likelihood of future problems is not strong enough to warrant appealing in this case". Beth is now free to use the stored samples in accordance with the Court's declaration and we wish her all the very best for the future.

We are delighted that the High Court today confirmed that Beth's application for a declaration allowing her late husband's sperm to remain in storage has been successful. A copy of the judgment is available here and the judge's summary is here.  

Alex Denoon presented at a conference (Clinical Operations & Outsourcing Medical Device Trials 2014) in Frankfurt on 19 February 2014. Alex's lecture related to the changing regulatory framework (for medical devices, in-vitro diagnostics, data protection and clinical trials).

Alex Denoon was invited to attend a workshop hosted by The Wellcome Trust on 31 January 2014 considering Strategies for Responsible Sharing of Clinical Trial Data. The workshop was based on a Study by the US Institute of Medicine. The workshop discussed the challenges with establishing systems for sharing clinical data. Based on his practical experience, Alex was able to comment on technical and legal issues (with a focus on the changing regulatory landscape).

LDD is acting for Elizabeth Warren in relation to her application to the High Court for a declaration that it would be lawful for her late husband's sperm to remain in storage. Further information is set out in this press release.

LDD acted for the Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre and the Reproductive Genetics Institute in their successful judicial review of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's decision to vary the clinics' licences before the completion of a statutory appeals process. Mrs Justice Patterson said that "In my judgment the defendant has no power to impose a condition which takes effect on a licence prior to completion of the full statutory process up to and including the appeal process provided for in section 20 of the 1990 Act" and further that "...the conduct of the defendant towards the claimants has not been fair. A fair outcome would have been to have retained the status quo until the end of the appeals process". The clinics were awarded their costs and a copy of the full judgment is available here.