Medicines, Medical Devices and the Law

The need for specialist knowledge of the laws governing the regulation of medicines has become apparent. This is the case among not only lawyers but also hospitals, researchers, prescribers and many others involved in the provision of healthcare. Such a need has been precipitated by a number of factors, including the changing structure of healthcare in the UK and Europe and the various changes in regulation that have arisen both from challenges in the courts and from the intervention of public bodies. However, the information available to those involved in the complex interrelations between medicines, medical devices and the law have remained scarce. This book aims to address this situation by bringing together the knowledge of the laws governing the regulation of medicines ranging across the field from the ethics of the use of medicines in treatment and research, through to drug-induced injury, civil liability and no-fault compensation schemes.