Events

UPCOMING EVENT

The Eira Conference 2026

The conference provides a unique opportunity to assemble policy-relevant research on the functions played by intellectual property rights, data rights, and other policy instruments on innovation, development, and financing incentives and structures in the biopharmaceutical and medical-device sector. Using economic concepts and empirical methods, contributors will deliver insights into the mix of intellectual property rights and other policy instruments that can sustain and enhance European and other regional biopharmaceutical ecosystems as well as the global market in financing and developing new drugs, medicines, and other therapies, and medical devices, to improve human well-being and quality of life. Contributors will also address the unique legal and policy issues raised by the use of artificial intelligence in drug discovery and development.

October 29-30, 2026

Paris, France

Draft program

Panel 1: Intellectual Property Rights and Biopharmaceutical Ecosystem Design

Commentator: Mark Schankerman, London School of Economics

Katherine Rockett (Univ. of Essex) & Angelos Stenimachitis (Univ. of Essex, Economics, Ph.D. program and Compass Lexecon), Ecosystem Definition and Detection in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Christine McDaniel (World Bank), The Role of Intellectual Property Assets in Financing Innovation in Biopharmaceutical Firms Across Countries

Panel 2: Intellectual Property Rights and Global Biopharmaceutical Markets

Walter Park (American Univ.), Global Value Chains, Patent Protection, and Knowledge Diffusion in Pharmaceuticals

Chirantan Chaterjee (Univ. of Sussex), The Long Way to Innovation – India’s Biopharmaceutical Industry 2 Decades after WTO-TRIPs (virtual speaker)

Panel 3: Evidence on Patent Term and Biopharmaceutical Innovation

Commentator: Margaret Kyle, Mines Paris – PSL, CEDP

Satyaki Chakravarty (Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Patent Term Extensions through the EU Supplemental Patent Certificate Regime

Gaetan de Rassenfosse (EPFL, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) Patent Pendency and Innovation Outcomes in Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Sectors

Simona Gamba (University of Milan) and Laura Magazzini (Sant’ Anna School of Advanced Studies), Heterogeneous Innovation Responses to Orphan Drug Regulation

Keynote Lunch Address: Mark Schankerman, London School of Economics

Panel 4: Reinvigorating the European and Global Biopharmaceutical Ecosystem

Commentator: David Bosco, Univ. Aix-Marseille

Andrea Dugo (ECIPE), Oscar Guinea (ECIPE), Beyond the Blockbuster: Intellectual Property and the Emerging Transformation of European Life Sciences

Timo Minssen (Univ. of Copenhagen, Law), Strategic Partnerships, Coopetition and Health Sovereignty: Recalibrating Incentives, Regulation, and Tech Transfer for a More Competitive Europe

Alden Abbott (George Mason Univ., Mercatus Institute) and Satya Marar (George Mason Univ., Mercatus Institute), Fostering Higher Foreign Contributions to Pharma R&D Through Trade Deals, Deregulation and Aligning Incentives

Panel 5: Evidence on Price Controls, Pricing Policy, and Biopharmaceutical Innovation

Duane Schulthess (Vital Transformation), Effects of European Price Control on U.S. Pharmaceutical Innovation

Stephen Ezell (Information Technology & Information Foundation) & Sandra Barbosu (ITIF), Price Control Regimes and Pharmaceutical Innovation in Japan, Europe, and the United States

Katharina Blankart (Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland), Paragraph Drug Availability – Value-based pricing and biopharmaceutical innovation

Panel 1: Insights from the Chinese and Emerging-Market Biopharmaceutical Ecosystems

Can Huang (Institute for Intellectual Property Management, School of Management, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University), Regulatory Reform and Development of Pharmaceutical Industry in China

Mark Cohen (Asia Society), Chinese Industrial and Patent Policy in Pharmaceuticals

Xixi Hu (University of British Columbia), Do Health Outbreaks Fuel Innovations?

Dan Prud’homme (Florida Intl. Univ.) & Tao Bai (University of Queensland), Intellectual Property and the Future of Biotech Innovation in China and Europe

Panel 2: Legal and Policy Issues on AI-Enabled Biopharmaceutical Drug Development

Commentator: Jonathan Barnett, University of Southern California

Sven J.R. Bostyn (Univ. of Copenhagen, Law), AI, pharma and exclusivity rights: opportunities and pitfalls

Laura Fe (Murgitroyd, Law) & Alice Norga (OECD – OCDE), Intellectual Property Protections for AI-Assisted Pharmaceutical Invention

Fireside Chat: Kamil Kiljanski, European Commission and Nicolas Petit, European University Institute. Moderator: Bowman Heiden, Gothenburg University, University of California at Berkeley.