Monthly Archives: January 2020

Five Key Takeaways from Our Seminar on Clinical Trials

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If you missed our seminar on clinical trials on January 16, here are five key takeaways to help you understand the changing regulatory environment in Europe and Italy.

  1. Be ready for a new regulatory landscape

The recent clinical trials regulatory overhaul within the EU aims at fostering research and facilitating the tasks of all actors involved in this area. However, delays in the implementation of such new legislation are posing an actual risk for the entire sector throughout the EU, while competition from emerging economies is getting stronger.

  1. Harmonized, but not enough

In several areas, such as observational studies or ethical committee’s assessments, a unified approach at European level is yet to be adopted. This leaves a lot of fragmentation among the various countries and a lot of work to be done at local level in order to ensure compliance with applicable regulations. Be prepared to deal with such inconveniences, in particular in the pharmaceutical sector.

  1. Changes in data protection laws offer new opportunities but challenges remain

GDPR brought new harmonized provisions to improve and support the use of data for the purpose of conducting research. However, guidance from national data protection and regulatory authorities in areas such as legal grounds for processing and secondary use is far from established. Moreover, different EU countries continue to adopt opposite approaches when it comes to consent and legitimate interest as valid legal grounds for data processing in the framework of clinical research. Data protection compliance will therefore continue to require local check-ups.

  1. New opportunities for independent research

Recent regulatory changes in Italy are being implemented to foster independent not-for-profit research in the clinical area. The new regulations, which are about to be adopted, envisage new opportunities for the participation of private actors in independent research and allow not-for-profit research institutions to better exploit the results of their research. The potential for conflicts remain and caution should be exercised within public-private relationships, but there is hope that new paradigms of collaboration will see the light.

  1. A new world of evidence is out there

More and more projects in the clinical research field involve real world data and real world evidence, gathered in a number of different ways outside the rigid protocols of a controlled study, whether through medical devices or other data collection instruments. Real world data are key to understanding how treatments work in reality and developing new healthcare paths. However, both clinicians and private actors are operating in uncharted territories and the line between studies and alternative research projects is thinner than you may expect. Be mindful of the regulatory and compliance ramifications of these new powerful tools.

Italy’s First Multi-Million GDPR Sanctions

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Before last week, the Italian Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) only applied one (modest) GDPR sanction, which placed Italy at the bottom of the lists of EU Countries per number and value of GDPR sanctions applied.

In addition to the great differences in numbers and figures – for example, of soon-to-leave UK (sanctions’ amounts in Euro: Italy 30k vs. UK 315mln+) or Spain (number of sanctions: Italy 1 vs. Spain 43) – it is interesting noting that, until last Friday, the most active European DPAs (UK, France, Germany, Spain) tended to target big players in the private sector (i.e. British Airways, Marriot International, Google), as opposed to Italy’s attention to websites affiliated to a political party and run through the platform named Rousseau.

Last Friday, however, a significant change in such scenario occurred. The Italian DPA issued a press release announcing two GDPR sanctions applied to Eni Gas e Luce, a fully-owned subsidiary of Italy’s State-controlled multinational oil and gas company, Eni S.p.A., for Euro 8.5 and 3 million.

The first sanction of Euro 8.5 million has been imposed for unlawful processing in connection with telemarketing and tele-selling activities. The inspections and inquiries had been carried out by the authorities as a response to several alerts and complaints that followed GDPR D-Day.

Violations included: advertising calls made without consent or despite data subjects’ refusal, absence of technical and organisational measures to take into account the instructions provided by data subjects, excessive data retention periods, obtainment of personal data of possible future customers from third parties which did not obtain consent.

The second sanction of Euro 3 million relates to unsolicited contracts for the supply of electricity and gas. Many individuals complained that they have learned about their new contracts only upon receipt of the termination letter from the previous supplier or of the first electricity bill from Eni Gas e Luce. Complaints included alleged incorrect data and false signatures.

About 7200 consumers have been affected. The Italian DPA also underlined the role of third-party contractors, acting on behalf of Eni Gas e Luce, in perpetrating the violations.

Both decisions are quite significant as, for the very first time, the Italian DPA provides its indications and illustrates its approach in dealing with data processing and violations by large-sized companies operating in the private sector, within the GDPR regulatory framework.

Clinical Trials Seminar at Gitti and Partners

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On January 16 our firm Gitti and Partners will be hosting a seminar on clinical trials legislation and its related opportunities and risks. The seminar will look at drug trials and medical devices investigations from various angles, including regulatory, data processing and criminal law perspectives.

Ms. Alice Cabrio and Ms. Giulia Corti, Corporate & Compliance Managers at Roche S.p.A., will focus on the challenges of reconciling GDPR and trials.

Dr. Eleonora Ferretti will bring the perspective of the trial unit of a large public hospital that is also a research center.

Ms. Elisa Tacconi and Ms. Elisa Corleto of Medtronic Italia S.p.A. will dive into real world evidence and will explore the limits of trials’ regulations.

Our Fabrizio Sardella and Ms. Castagno and Mr. Stigliano of Orrick will highlight criminal risks linked to clinical trials.

The seminar promises to be very interesting and you are welcome to join us.

The full program can be found here: http://grplex.com/en/conferences/download/765/clinical-trials–risks-and-opportunities-in-a-new-regulatory-environment