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Patent restrictions to be relaxed for pharmaceutical research

Proposals to change the Patents Act have been put forward by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in a bid to create a fairer system in the pharmaceuticals industry. Clinical and field trials for new medical treatments will be able to use other patented drugs if new measures are approved, which has been a restriction to product and therapy development in the past. Firms often have legitimate needs to compare drugs that are being developed with existing patented treatments, and IPO?s proposals will allow companies to do this without infringing and laws. Minister for Intellectual Property, Lord Marland said: ?Our proposals look to remove the uncertainty around patent infringement in clinical and field trials, so that our life sciences sector continues to create jobs and growth in the UK economy. ?The UK needs an intellectual property system which supports our world class UK pharmaceutical industry that invests over £12 million in Research and Development every day.? Sean Dennehey, Chief Executive of IPO, said: ?Previous discussions with the pharmaceutical industry revealed a widespread appetite for change in the way UK patent law treats clinical or field trials. A consultation period over the measures put forward will run from Wednesday until the 19th December. Mr Dennehey said: ?This consultation now offers a formal opportunity to shape the patent infringement provisions so that they can better support growth in this key industry sector. ?I look forward to receiving a wide response providing views and evidence enabling us to move in the direction which industry needs to succeed.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .