Pharmaceutical patent law and related regulatory rights are entering a period of significant transformation. Regulatory reform at the EU level, an emerging corpus of decisions from the Unified Patent Court, and new developments on SPCs, plausibility and remedies are reshaping the legal and strategic landscape for innovators, generics, their legal representatives and the judiciary.

On 17 April 2026, the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre will host a one-day conference examining these developments and their practical implications. Bringing together leading judges, practitioners, industry representatives and academics, the conference will provide a focused forum for rigorous and forward-looking discussion.

The programme is structured around four thematic panels:

1. Regulatory developments — analysing the EU pharmaceutical reform package and the European Health Data Space, and their implications for innovation, data governance and market access.
2. The Unified Patent Court — assessing the Court’s emerging jurisprudence, including the impact of BSH v Electrolux and the continuing significance of the Amgen v Sanofi litigation.
3. Supplementary Protection Certificates — examining the evolving meaning of “product” and the treatment of combination patents in light of recent CJEU and domestic case law.
4. Broader doctrinal and remedial questions — including plausibility, the interface between patents and competition law, and the developing approach to injunctive relief.

The focus throughout is on the law as it operates in practice: how recent decisions and legislative reforms are influencing litigation strategy, regulatory positioning and commercial outcomes. The conference will convene judges from the UPC and the English courts, leading barristers, and representatives of pharmaceutical companies for informed, high-level debate.

Speakers include James Horgan (MSD), Judge Edger Brinkman (UPC), Kathryn Pickard KC (11 South Square), Dr Kit Carter (Sandoz), Victoria Kitcatt (Pfizer), Dr Maxence Rivoire (King's College London), Dr Stuart Baran (Three New Square), Daniel Brook (Hogan Lovells), Dr Darren Smyth (EIP) and Dr Gabriela Lenarczyk (CeBIL, University of Copenhagen). 

Lord Kitchin, Lord Justice Arnold, Sir Christopher Floyd and Professor Timo Minssen (CeBIL, University of Copenhagen) will chair the sessions.

If you have any queries, please contact us at events@law.ox.ac.uk