Regions

Categories

Practice Areas

NewsBookmark PagePrint Page

Briefs

11 Jul 2011

Boost for pharma research

Negative term supplementary protection certificates should be allowed for medical products, according to an opinion handed down in June by the Advocate General to Europe’s Court of Justice, Yves Bot. Specialist lawyers welcomed the judgment, with London-based law firm Bristows describing the ruling as ‘excellent news for the innovative pharmaceutical industry’. It pointed out that EU states have so far taken contradictory positions on the issue. The demand for negative or zero-term certificates – in which less than five years elapse between filing the patent application and a grant of marketing approval – initially arose with the introduction of paediatric extension grants.