Informa Life Sciences will be holding its 17th annual "EU Pharmaceutical Law Forum" in Brussels, Belgium, on May 8 and 9.  This conference is billed as the "must attend" meeting for in-house counsel in pharmaceutical companies and lawyers in private practice who specialize in the life sciences.  Speakers will examine in detail the recent developments in trade, competition, intellectual property and regulatory matters of concern to the pharmaceutical industry.

Conference highlights include:

• Article 81: licensing, distribution arrangements, settlement agreements
• Article 82: the Astra/Zeneca case and its consequences for the pharmaceutical industry, plus lessons to be learned from Microsoft
• Restructuring distribution systems in Europe
• Analysis of patent actions in Europe
• European legislation initiatives: EPC 2000, EPLA and the Enforcement Directive
• Implementation of the New Medicines Legislation and adoption of the New Penalties Regulation
• Update on the state of play with biosimilars
• The European Clinical Trials Directive
• Practical experience of working with the new EU Pediatric Medicines Regulation
• Marketing and promotion: ensuring compliance with ABPI code of practice

In addition, in light of the recent announcement by the EC of the launch of a pharmaceutical antitrust inquiry, the conference has added a new speaker to the agenda, Tony Woodgate of Simmons & Simmons, who will explore the EU Antitrust Inquiry and provide an update on its progress.