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Ranibizumab SPC Cut By Nearly Two Years In UK

Filing Error Slices Nearly Two Years Off Roche’s UK Lucentis Protection

 
• By Ian Schofield

A ruling by the High Court has cut almost two years from UK SPC protection for Roche's Lucentis ranibizumab brand, potentially offering biosimilar competitors the change to jump into the market early.

IP
A recent court ruling is bad news for the Lucentis SPC • Source: Shutterstock

Roche is facing an early expiry of the UK supplementary protection certificate (SPC) for its ophthalmology drug, Lucentis (ranibizumab), after its duration was shortened by nearly two years because of an administrative error.

The term of the SPC, which was granted to the Roche subsidiary Genentech, should have been three years and nine months, but it was artificially reduced when Master Data Center, a patent administration company working for Genentech, paid the fees for only a

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More from Generics Bulletin

After Jazz, Hikma Agrees $50m Settlement For ‘Most’ Xyrem ‘Pay-For-Delay’ Claims

 
• By Dean Rudge

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