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EU Supplementary Protection Certificate Mechanism Needs To Go, Say Campaigners

 
• By Vibha Sharma

A group of more than 30 NGOs has urged the European Commission to consider abolishing the system of granting supplementary protection certificates to pharmaceutical companies, saying it delays generic competition and affects the availability of affordable medicines. A UK-based patent attorney, however, says the assertions made by the NGOs are not supported by the evidence.

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SPCs prolong monopolies of originator pharmaceutical companies, say campaigners • Source: Shutterstock

Thirty-three civil society organizations have written an open letter to the European Commission urging it to abolish the current mechanism of awarding drug companies supplementary protection certificates (SPC). They claim that it "expands and extends" existing monopoly rights of pharmaceutical corporations, and results in higher medicines prices by preventing generic competition.

But patent attorney and SPC expert Mike Snodin dismissed the assertions regarding the alleged negative effects of SPCs on the...

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