The dubiety of second medical use patents has not been
limited to which further therapeutic treatments qualify for
exclusive rights – nor their controversy to the perceived
contribution to thickets; crucial Intellectual
Property (IP) issues regarding extended durations and applicable
law have inevitably come to the fore.
Speak to our experts in medical patents
With the lengthy period needed to receive a market authorization
(MA) for a new medical product, a supplementary protection
certificate (SPC) delivers much-needed assurance to the patent
holder. The compensatory period of up to five or five-and-a-half
years of exclusivity offsets the commercial impact arising from the
delay between invention disclosure and obtaining an MA. However,
the existence of SPCs within the European Economic Area (EEA) has
invited a number of burning questions on their availability to
second medical use patents and, followingly, the stances of
national and supranational courts.
