CeBIL symposium: Sustainable health innovation, grand challenges & the law

Day 1: 09:00 – 18:00 (followed by a reception)

Day 2: 09.00 – 13:45

Please register no later than June 12th at 20:00 using this registration form. 

For registration queries please contact suzan.duran@jur.ku.dk or maryna.pagels@jur.ku.dk

• Timo Minssen, Professor of Law & Founding Director of Center for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation Law (CeBIL), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen (UCPH) & LML Research Affiliate, University of Cambridge
• Ryan Dos Santos, Technical Officer - Digital Health at  the World Health Organization (Europe), Division of Country Health Policies and Systems
• Thomas Alslev Christensen, Senior Vice President, Impact, Novo Nordisk Foundation
• Kathy Liddell, Director, Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences; Professor of Intellectual Property and Medical Law (LML), University of Cambridge
• Sonoo Thadaney Israni, Executive Director, Presence & Program in Bedside Medicine, Stanford University
• Aaron Kesselheim, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School & Faculty member, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• Glenn Cohen, Faculty Director, James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law & Deputy Dean, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School
• Rohit Malpani, Senior Advisor, GARDP
• Effy Vayena, Professor of Bioethics, Deputy Head of the Institute of Translational Medicine, ETH Zurich
• Carmel Shachar, Executive Director, The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School
• Nicholson Price, Professor of Law, Michigan Law, University of Michigan
• Kevin Outterson, Professor of Law and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Law, Boston University
• Rebecca Glover, Head of Economic, Social, and Political Science, Antimicrobial Resistance Centre, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
• Jacob Madden,  Postdoctoral research fellow, PORTAL, Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women’s Hospital & the Social Innovation on Drug Resistance (SIDR) program, Boston University School of Law
• Michael S. Sinha, Assistant Professor, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University
• Jakob Wested, Industrial Postdoc, Danish Medicines Agency & Center for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation Law (CeBIL), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen (UCPH)
• Merete Schmiegelow, Patient Advocate, Danish Cancer Society
• Matt Fisher, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Laws, University College London
• John Liddicoat, Senior lecturer, The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London
• Marco Schito, Professor Practice in Law at Arizona Law & Executive Director of the Critical Path Institute's CURE Drug Repurposing Collaboratory
• Ariel Stern, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Technology and Operations Management Unit, Harvard Business School
• Arti Rai, Elvin R. Latty Professor of Law and Faculty Director, The Center for Innovation Policy, Duke Law
• Louise C. Druedahl, PhD, fmr. Postdoc, CeBIL, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, since 01, June 2023, Global Regulatory Affairs, Novo Nordisk
• Ana Santos Rutschman, Professor of Law, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
• Ioannis Lianos, President of the Hellenic Competition Committee/ Professor of Global Competition Law and Public Policy, UCL Faculty of Laws
• Marcelo Corrales Compagnucci, Associate Professor & Deputy Director, Center for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation Law (CeBIL), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
• Mateo Aboy, Principal Research Scholar in Biomedical Innovation, Precision Medicine, AI & Law, Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences (LML), University of Cambridge
• Jyoti Joshi, AMR Advisor, The International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS)
• Kshitij Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor, Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi

Click here to see the agenda (PDF).

Health and life science innovation has made rapid progress in many scientific fields, such as gene editing, pharmacogenomics, advanced medical computing and big data-driven precision medicine. Many of these advances may help us to tackle some of the so-called Grand Challenges of the future. These include climate change, pandemics, antimicrobial resistance and more inclusive innovation. To increase the health and well-being of mankind, our ecosystems and the planet, it is further clear that these challenges must be tackled with a clear view on the UN sustainable development goals and One Health perspectives. Yet, many inefficiencies, paradoxes, conflicting goals and collective action problems, still remain to be addressed. 

For example, the total number of truly innovative and revolutionary drugs and therapies that have been approved for the market is still unsatisfactory. At the same time, the pandemic and the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance has highlighted the vulnerability of our healthcare systems, and some of the more innovative therapies that can reach patients have become increasingly costly or ethically questionable. Moreover, it is estimated that the pharmaceutical sector is currently responsible for a substantial share of global carbon emissions. If nothing is done its carbon footprint might triple by 2050. In addition, some of the recent advances in digital innovation, medical devices and advanced medical computing, raise a wide range of complex scientific, legal and ethical issues. These  affect a great variety of stakeholders, including medical professionals, regulators, patients and the industry. 

To examine some of these challenges from an ethico-legal and social science perspective, the Novo Nordisk Foundation awarded a grant of DKK 35 million in 2017 to establish a Collaborative Research Program in Biomedical Innovation Law (CeBIL-program). The overall objective of the program was to contribute to the translation of ground-breaking biomedical research into affordable and accessible therapies by analyzing the most significant legal challenges to biomedical innovation and public health from a holistic cross-disciplinary perspective. The CeBIL-program is hosted by a newly established Centre for Advanced Studies (CeBIL) at the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Law. The research was carried out within a unique network of international core partners, including internationally renowned experts at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, University of Cambridge, University of Michigan, and UCPH’s Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO). Moreover, CeBIL collaborated with a broad network of stakeholder organizations and international experts in law, economics, life sciences, medicine, sociology and pharmacy.

This conference marks the conclusion of the CeBIL program which started on January 1^st, 2018. In the first 5.5 years of CeBIL’s existence, a wide range of research projects were at the forefront of the center’s activities. This conference will bring together renowned international experts who will provide their perspectives on legal, economic, societal, and scientific aspects of selected life science areas and will discuss future challenges and opportunities that call for more research and innovation.