Students of UP Law and the National Institute for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology hold symposium on the intersection of drug development and intellectual property law

The LAW 194 class of the UP College of Law (COL), in collaboration with the MBB 294 class of the National Institute for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (NIMBB) held a joint symposium titled, “The Future of Medicine-Making: AI, Research Ethics, and Intellectual Property,” on 16 May 2026 via Zoom.

Under the guidance of Atty. Josephine Santiago, former Director General of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and professor, the symposium highlighted the evolving intersection of drug discovery and development and intellectual property law in an unprecedented age of artificial intelligence (AI). The event consisted of five sessions, with each one exploring a different set of interlocking issues and discussions – followed by a panel discussion.

The first session, “Understanding AI and the Drug Development Pipeline,” gave an overview on how AI is proving to be indispensable in optimizing drug development. The second session, “AI in Drug Discovery: Scientific Innovation and the Ownership of Knowledge” discussed the ways in which AI is permeating drug discovery through target identification, while raising questions on ownership and protection of knowledge generated through AI-assisted research. The third session, “Responsible Research: Preclinical Experiments, Ethics, and the Precautionary Approach,” examined how AI systems could aid in replacing, reducing, and refining techniques that require the use of animals in preclinical testing. The fourth session, “Clinical Trials in the Age of AI: Human Subjects, Data, and Rights,” focused on emerging ethical and legal concerns surrounding informed consent, data privacy and patient protection within the context of AI-driven clinical trials. The final session, “Regulation, Patents, and Access to Medicines in an AI-Driven World,” discussed pharmacovigilance, regulatory oversight and the patentability of AI-assisted pharmaceutical innovations and their implications for access to medicines.

The symposium featured distinguished panelists, including Dr. Jose Enrico Lazaro, former Institute Director of the NIMBB and Associate Professor; Atty. Ma. Tanya Karina Lat, Professorial Lecturer at the UP COL; and Atty. Senando Angelo Santiago, Law Reform Specialist at the UP Law Center’s Institute for the Administration of Justice (IAJ) and Professorial Lecturer at the UP COL.

With over 150 attendants of diverse specialties, the event successfully served as a valuable platform for interdisciplinary dialogue. By bringing together researchers, practitioners and students in the fields of law and molecular biology and biotechnology, the event fostered meaningful discussions on the ethical, legal and scientific dimensions of AI-driven innovation in medicine.