Foreword

Welcome to the Arthur Cox Life Sciences Outlook 2026.

It is an exciting time for the Irish Life Sciences ecosystem, as we look forward to our own Domestic Life Sciences Strategy which is expected before year end. Furthermore, the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which has just begun on 1 July, presents a unique opportunity for Ireland to broker discussions on some key files for the sector, most notably Biotech Act I and the proposals to reform the legislative framework for medical devices.

In this, our team’s second annual outlook, we break down our review into concentrated snapshots across a number of key areas.

The depth of expertise in this publication underscores our strength and capacity as a firm in this area and showcases how we advise clients across the entire product life cycle as well as the many ways in which our team supports the pharma and medtech industry.

All that remains is for me to thank all the contributors for their time and effort, and in particular, to thank Orla Clayton for her role as editor and Sonya O’Brien for design input.

I hope that you find our publication both useful and interesting.

COLIN KAVANAGH, PARTNER AND HEAD OF LIFE SCIENCES GROUP