Latest update:
Thursday, March 30, 2017 - 08:48
29 March 2017
“Medicines for Europe” organized in London the 13th Conference regarding important legal issues related to generic, biosimilar and value added medicines. At the meeting, leading lawyers, specialists and managers from the industry discussed the proposals made by the European Commission on stimulating the growth and development of jobs in the pharmaceutical sector in Europe. The event was of crucial importance for the progress in the discussions on major legal issues related to intellectual property, the consequences from the findings by the European Union Health Council of June 2016 calling for a review of the incentives in the pharmaceutical industry, the effect of Brexit on manufacture, development of antitrust legislation, the practice regarding Supplementary protection certificates (SPC), the Unified Patent Court, orphan drugs, transparency of clinical trials, the Code of Ethics for the industry, compulsory licenses, the Directive against counterfeit medicines, the European Patent Office and data protection. The proposal of the Commission with regard to exempting manufacturers from SPC, to research and development and to manufacture was discussed in detail, as well as the encouragement for creation of highly skilled jobs and for Europe’s economic growth.
“The conference proposes ways to encourage competition, innovations and growth in the pharmaceutical sector. Patients, governments and health systems rely on a strong industry for generic, biosimilar and value added medicines to increase the access to high quality medicines and to create new jobs in Europe. Adapting the legal environment, which includes exempting manufacturers from the effect of the Supplementary protection certificates (SPC), will increase investments in our industry and will demonstrate our willingness to support the measures for creating competitive jobs”, commented Sergio Napolitano, director of legal issues for “Medicines for Europe”.