International News: Spotlight on the Healthcare Industry

The global healthcare industry has had the most challenging year in living memory. But 2021 is a new year. Alongside new challenges, such as whether or not healthcare employers can or should make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for employees, and the uncertainty surrounding the transfer of European health data post-Schrems II, there are also many new opportunities.

Sovereign Wealth Funds are increasingly seeing the health sector as an attractive investment market, and Social Impact Bonds have emerged as an excellent financing option for development projects that might otherwise find it hard to attract initial funding.

Healthcare companies still, of course, need to pay close attention to their commercial operations. As the market evolves to meet the new normal of an increasingly online and app-centric world, the need for robust agreements with software developers becomes ever more important. And the sector will always be the target of investigations into excessive pricing, and subject to developments relating to key tools such as Supplementary Protection Certificates. But the time has come to be cautiously optimistic and to look to the future of healthcare