Biomedical innovation, particularly in pharmacology and medicine, forces the reconsideration of several fundamental principles of the law of civil liability. The uncertainty often affecting the determination of the risks that these innovations pose for human health jeopardizes the capacity of the law of civil liability to compensate its victims and to sanction the behaviours at the source of these risks. This reality has forced the law to re-examine its role in the governance of medical and pharmaceutical activities and in providing adequate support to victims of biomedical developments. A discourse has emerged that pleads for the transformation of private law to allow it to better contribute to risk prevention. The failings of private law in assisting victims of biomedical risk have also led to the gradual transfer of their compensation to public law. This text studies the influence of precautionary and regulatory objectives on the development and transformation of the law of civil liability in its application to biomedical innovations. It also focuses on the increasing role the State plays in the compensation of injury flowing from the realization of biomedical risks. The exploration of these two tendencies reveals the extent of the contribution of scientific developments in the transformation of the law.