European court decisions on SPCs gives drug combinations more protection

Executive Summary

The Court of Justice of the European Union has delivered its judgement on two "seminal" cases involving pharmaceutical supplementary protection certificates¹. The rulings "will have immediate and far-reaching consequences not only in relation to the broad SPC protection that might now be granted by patent offices in Europe, but also in connection with the scope and validity of SPCs already granted,” according to the UK law firm, Potter Clarkson², which acted for Georgetown University et al in one of the two cases under consideration. The party in the other case was Medeva.