The US Food and Drug Administration (‘FDA’) announced on 13 November 2017 that it has approved Abilify MyCite, the first drug in the US with a digital ingestion tracking system, a development that has caused excitement due to the potential commercial and health implications, but has also caused concern relating to possible privacy issues. / read more

On 29 July 2017, the Russian State Duma approved Federal Law No.242-FZ ‘On Amending Certain Legal Acts of the Russian Federation on the Use of Information Technologies in the Area of Health Care,’ (the ‘Law on Telemedicine’) set to take effect from 1 January 2018. This milestone piece of legislation has been issued in response to the growing uptake of telemedicine services in Russia, and here Julianna Tabastajewa and Meldir Erbulekova, of Gowling WLG, provide their take on the new Law and the likely impact it will have on Russian healthcare. / read more

The US House Energy & Commerce Committee unanimously approved the latest draft of the 21st Century Cures Act (‘21CCA’) on 21 May, which aims to modernise and personalise healthcare in the US. / read more

Guangdong No. 2 Provincial People’s Hospital launched telemedicine in October, the first hospital in China to be approved to do so by the provincial Health and Family Planning Commission. Nicolas Zhu of CMS China provides a closer look at the development of telemedicine in China and the legal uncertainties to be addressed before it can really take off. / read more