Last updated: March 5th, 2026
On December 11th, 2025, the Council of the European Union (EU) and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement to revamp the EU pharmaceutical policy framework, aiming to boost competitiveness, innovation and a secure supply of medicines.
This agreement marks a milestone in the most comprehensive overhaul of EU pharmaceutical legislation in over two decades, and it came almost 3 years after the Commission put forward a “pharmaceutical package” to revise the EU’s pharmaceutical legislation in April 2023.
Key Elements and Potential Implications
Regulatory protection, capped at 11 years, with a new “8+1(+1) (+1)” formula:
Baseline protection following a marketing authorization (MA):
- 8 years of regulatory data protection
- 1 year of added market protection (generic or biosimilar products cannot be sold)
Additional periods of market protection if:
- The product addresses unmet medical needs (1 year), or
- The product contains a new active substance fulfilling a combination of conditions on comparative clinical trials, clinical trials in several member states, and the obligation to file in the EU within 90 days after the submission of the application for the first MA outside the EU (1 year);
- The company secures one or more new indications with significant clinical benefit in comparison with existing therapies (1 year)
- Breakthrough orphan medicinal products could benefit from up to 11 years of market exclusivity.
What This Means for Companies
The long-standing “8+2(+1)” framework will be replaced with a conditional incentive model. To maximize market exclusivity, companies will need to deliver added clinical value and align indication expansion with public health priorities. This increases the importance of early evidence generation, comparative studies, and real-world data, as well as structured lifecycle management and label expansion plans that are integrated into asset development strategies.
Clarification of The ‘Bolar Exemption’
Generic and biosimilar companies will be allowed to conduct various activities during the market protection period, including studies to obtain MAs, conducting Health Technology Assessments (HTAs), and submitting procurement tender applications.
What This Means for Companies
The exemption aims to ensure that generics and biosimilars can enter the market immediately after the expiry of intellectual property (IP) rights, potentially accelerating revenue erosion for originator companies. Originator companies will need to increase their focus on earlier loss-of-exclusivity planning, IP portfolio strategies, and commercial defense measures to prepare for the rapid competitive entry of generics and biosimilars.
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Incentives
- The European Commission may grant a transferable data exclusivity voucher to a ‘priority antimicrobial’. This initiative aims to incentivize the development of priority antibiotics, granting companies one extra year of market exclusivity for the priority antimicrobial or another drug of choice.
- To protect national budgets, a ‘blockbuster clause’ will prevent use of the voucher on very high-revenue drugs with annual gross sales higher than €490 million in any of the four preceding years.
What This Means for Companies
Reflecting the increasing prominence of AMR on the global health policy agenda, the EU agreement signals a strong commitment to AMR prioritization through new AMR-specific incentives. These mechanisms have the potential to create considerable commercial value beyond the AMR product itself, turning antimicrobial development into a strategic portfolio lever. Companies will need to develop strategies for valuing and deploying vouchers across high-revenue products in their portfolios.
A More Competitive and Streamlined Regulatory Framework
The reform aims to modernize and simplify regulatory processes by:
- Shortening MA timelines; with regulatory assessment time reduced from 210 to 180 days
- Granting indefinite MAs by default, removing renewal requirements (with safety exceptions)
- Introducing electronic MA applications in a standardised format
- Creating regulatory sandboxes, on a case-by-case basis, to assess innovative therapies under supervision
What This Means for Companies
Reduced assessment timelines and administrative simplification could accelerate time-to-market and reduce regulatory lifecycle burden, improving the attractiveness of the EU as a launch and development region.
However, companies will need to invest in digital regulatory capabilities to operate effectively in a fully electronic, standardized MA environment. By enabling experimentation with innovative regulatory approaches, regulatory sandboxes can accelerate the development and authorization of novel therapies, but companies will need to proactively engage and adapt their development strategies.
Ensuring The Availability of Medicines
The reform introduces obligations around monitoring and management of shortages:
- Obligation for companies to ensure appropriate and continued supplies of their products and to notify market cessations, withdrawals, temporary suspensions and disruptions
- Obligation for companies to prepare shortage prevention plans for prescription medicines and medicines that would require a shortage prevention plan named by the Commission
- Expected and actual medicine shortages will be monitored at the national- and EU-level based on MA holder notifications, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) would establish and update a list of critical shortages in the EU
What This Means for Companies
Supply chain robustness will increasingly be considered a compliance requirement, not solely an operational issue. Companies will need resilient supply chain strategies, including improved forecasting, and closer engagement with regulators.
Next Steps for EU Pharmaceutical Legislation
The legal texts have not yet been published, and the provisional agreement must still be endorsed by both the Council of the EU and the European Parliament before formal adoption. Once adopted, the acts are expected to enter into force in 2026, followed by a two-year transition period, with the legislation becoming fully applicable in 2028.
Our Global Value and Access Team
The EU is signaling a clear intent to modernize its pharmaceutical framework and improve the efficiency and attractiveness of its pharmaceutical market. Streamlined procedures, faster reviews, and digitalized processes are positive developments for companies seeking to accelerate development and commercialisation in the region. However, the EU is also raising expectations around demonstrated clinical value, timely EU launches, and supply continuity, with regulatory incentives increasingly linked to public health objectives.
Combined with the new Joint Clinical Assessment (JCA) framework, these reforms will require companies to adapt their development, regulatory, and market access strategies, with earlier evidence generation, closer regulatory–HTA alignment, and robust supply strategies in an increasingly complex environment. Our Global Value and Access team can support you across the full spectrum of EU HTA and market access activities. Reach out to the GVA team at: bd@fiecon.com.
Plan your EU market access strategy with confidence
Meet The Author
Gaia Geraci
Manager
Gaia has several years of experience in life sciences consulting, spanning market access and health policy. Her work has focused on conducting research, analysis, and delivering strategic recommendations to clients to drive commercial success and to help shape systems to enhance access to medicines.
FAQs on EU Pharmaceutical Legislation Agreement
1. When will the new EU pharmaceutical legislation take effect?
The EU pharmaceutical legislation is expected to enter into force in 2026, with a transition period until 2028, when the new regulatory framework becomes fully applicable.
2. How does the EU pharmaceutical reform change market exclusivity for pharma and biotech?
The reform replaces the traditional “8+2(+1)” model with a conditional incentive framework, linking regulatory data protection and market exclusivity to demonstrated clinical value, unmet medical need, and timely EU launches.
3. What does the clarified Bolar exemption mean for EU market access strategy?
The updated Bolar exemption allows generics and biosimilars to complete regulatory, HTA, and procurement preparation before IP expiry, accelerating market entry and increasing pressure on originator market access and lifecycle management strategies.
4. How do the new AMR incentives affect pharmaceutical portfolio strategy?
EU antimicrobial resistance incentives, including transferable data exclusivity vouchers, create new strategic options for portfolio optimization, allowing companies to deploy exclusivity across higher-value assets, subject to blockbuster safeguards.
5. How should companies prepare for EU HTA and regulatory alignment under the new framework?
Pharma and biotech companies should strengthen early evidence generation, align regulatory and EU HTA (including Joint Clinical Assessment) planning, and build resilient supply and digital regulatory capabilities to remain competitive in the EU market.
References:
Deal on comprehensive reform of EU pharmaceutical legislation. European Parliament 2025 [cited February 2026]. Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20251209IPR32110/deal-on-comprehensive-reform-of-eu-pharmaceutical-legislation
EMA welcomes political agreement on new EU pharmaceutical legislation. European Medicines Agency 2025 [cited February 2026]. Available at: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/ema-welcomes-political-agreement-new-eu-pharmaceutical-legislation
‘Pharma package’: Council and Parliament reach a deal on new rules for a fairer and more competitive EU pharmaceutical sector. European Council 2025 [cited February 2026]. Available at: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2025/12/11/pharma-package-council-and-parliament-reach-a-deal-on-new-rules-for-a-fairer-and-more-competitive-eu-pharmaceutical-sector/