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Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly is a partner in the European Life Sciences group and also co-chair of Covington's Global Food Industry Group. Brian's practice focuses on EU food and drug regulatory law, public and administrative proceedings, EU procurement advice and challenges, internal investigations, European Union law, and product liability and safety. The Chambers Europe Guide to the legal profession lists Brian as part of our "world-class [regulatory and public affairs] team and describes him as a notable practitioner who is "very ambitious, thorough with a sharp intellect". The Chambers UK Guide quotes clients saying: "his communication and work ethic stand out, he is very hard-working and dedicated when it comes to his cases."

Brian’s advice on general regulatory matters across all sectors includes borderline determinations, food classifications, tissue and stem cell regulation, adverse event and other reporting obligations, manufacturing controls, labeling and promotion, pricing and reimbursement/procurement, procurement/tenders (including emergency use tenders, EU-wide tenders, Covid-19-related tenders), product life cycle management (foods and medicines), nanotechnology, and anti-bribery and corruption advice. Brian has also been advising on UK and European "Brexit" related issues including tariffs.

Brian has also advised and co-ordinated international projects on advertising/promotion, clinical research, data protection, the regulatory status of borderline products, food/cosmetic ingredient reviews and advises on regulatory aspects of corporate/commercial deals, particularly regulatory due diligence.

Brian is also experienced in representing clients in administrative and enforcement proceedings before regulatory authorities and in the UK and EU courts.

Brian is an honorary lecturer at University College London.

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As with anything personalized, be it advertising, medicines or training schedules, also personalized nutrition — using information on individual characteristics to develop targeted nutritional advice, products, or services — risks being affected by the feared GDPR.  Kristof Van Quathem discusses the topic in Vitafoods’ Insights magazine of January 2019, available here.

On 15 July 2016, the European Commission updated MEDDEV 2.1/6 (the “MEDDEV Guidance), its medical device guidance on the qualification and classification of stand alone software used in the healthcare setting. The updated version replaces an earlier version of MEDDEV 2.1/6 issued by the European Commission in January 2012.

MEDDEV 2.1/6 generally stands as a valuable resource to assist software developers in the assessment of whether software is a medical device. However, some have expressed disappointment that the updated guidance did not go further in clarifying the picture, particularly those operating within the mobile health (mHealth) space.

Indeed, the main changes consist of additions to the definitions section of the MEDDEV Guidance. There is now a definition to clarify that “software” is a “set of instructions that processes input data and creates output data“. There are also accompanying definitions of “input data” and “output data”.
Continue Reading EU Updates MEDDEV 2.1/6 Guidance on Standalone Software