Pharmaceutical production is one of the most regulated activities in Poland, Europe, and globally. The reason seems obvious: creating drugs can cause numerous complications, health problems, and in extreme cases, even death, depending on the individual patient’s health contraindications. Due to the above-mentioned reasons, the process of creating a new drug is often very expensive and lengthy, and involves a large number of professionals and scientists specializing in this field. In an era of dynamic digitalization, the need to develop specific operational rules for drug production and principles for using AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) models is increasingly emphasized. Manufacturers are often considering implementing AI systems to support pharmaceutical production processes.
Much of the EU’s pharmaceutical legislation was adopted over 20 years ago. It is clear that much progress has been made in this area since then. Furthermore, due to the nature of European Union legislation, these regulations are fragmented into numerous smaller regulations and directives. To address both of the aforementioned issues, in 2023, the European Commission presented a draft of new legislation in this area. This draft was called the Pharmaceutical Package. After publishing the draft regulation and directive, the European Parliament adopted the draft with amendments at first reading in 2024. Since then, negotiations have been ongoing with the Council of the EU on the final shape of the regulations. However, on December 16, 2025, the Council published the outcome of the negotiations, announcing that both legislative bodies had reached a preliminary agreement on the final shape of the regulations.[1] Now, the draft will be put to a vote by the EU Council, where, probably after introducing the agreed amendments, it will be sent back to the Parliament, which will have to accept the amendments.
The European Union has launched a comprehensive regulatory framework for biotechnology and support for businesses in this field. It is estimated that approximately 80 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients are imported, particularly from countries such as China and India. The European economy cannot afford this current state of affairs if it is to remain competitive, stable, and attractive to investors. For this reason, the so-called Biotech Act, which is intended to regulate the field and industry of biotechnology, as well as research conducted on it, in such a way as to solve the current problems occurring therein.
The use of AI and machine learning solutions in drug manufacturing technologies with the use of machine learning and quantitative, high-throughput in vivo experiments; the EU regulations for advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) and the procedures for placing the most modern drugs on the world market by the European Medicines Agency.
The intensive development of medicine affects the medical regulatory law in the European Union, which should cover more and more new legal problems related to the increasingly common application of advanced solutions of artificial intelligence, machine learning, telemedicine solutions and cyber solutions to the technology of manufacturing medicinal products.
One of the characteristics of diseases and conditions is that different illnesses often affect people to completely different degrees and with completely different frequencies. With the advancement of modern medicine, organizations have begun to take a more serious look at the problem of rare diseases. However, the diagnosis and treatment of such diseases are still highly problematic. One of the problems associated with this is the low revenue from such drugs. Due to the fact that some diseases are very rare, the cost of the process of developing and introducing them to the market is disproportionate to the expected sales of such drugs. This happens because of a very narrow group of people affected by such diseases. Drugs for these rare diseases are called orphan drugs or orphan medicinal products (Orphan medicinal products).
