Public health and the preservation of competitiveness: the role of the SPC

"Public health and the preservation of economic competitiveness: the European supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products" is the title of an article by Diane Delcourt (Doctor in Law, Université Paul Cézanne, Aix-en-Provence, France), which is published in the June 2009 issue of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice (JIPLP, published monthly by Oxford University Press and edited by the author of this post). According to the abstract, the article runs along the following lines:

"Legal context: Fifteen years after the Council Regulation concerning the creation of a supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products came into force, this article underlines the main goals of its adoption.

Key points: In an international context characterized by a constant increase of costs of research and development, this Regulation was destined to foster pharmaceutical innovation by providing industry with exclusive rights over its inventions, after the end of the general patent protection term. Concerned with the needs of innovative companies, the Community authorities nonetheless desired to preserve the interests of low-income consumers, seeking the swift commercialization of cost-effective drugs.

Practical significance: Reviewing the legislative aims and relevant case law, this paper demonstrates that the European Union was willing to promote pharmaceutical innovation while ensuring the generic industry's general development. It shows that the Regulation can be seen as an illustration of the European model of pharmaceutical law, continually striving to reconcile conflicting imperatives such as the protection of public health and the preservation of economic competitiveness".

The SPC Blog is asking the publisher to let it have a PDF of this article for the benefit of the blog's readers. If this request is successful, the PDF will be posted as soon as possible.