Streamlined EU Supplementary Protection Certificate System Moves Ahead

A parliamentary committee says the proposals will remove the fragmentation in the EU SPC system and bring predictability for both the innovative and generics industry.

Patent — SPCs extend the effective life of a pharmaceutical patent • Source: Shutterstock

A more harmonized, predictable and less costly EU-wide system for obtaining supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) for medicines has moved a step closer after the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee (JURI) unanimously backed two draft EU regulations that will now be voted on by the full parliament.

One of the regulations would allow applicants to obtain an SPC in designated EU member states by filing a centralized SPC application that would undergo a single examination procedure, rather...

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