BioCentury
ARTICLE | Politics & Policy

U.K. amends law to ease patent restrictions for innovator trials

February 27, 2013 1:44 AM UTC

The U.K.'s Intellectual Property Office amended a section of the Patents Act of 1977 to provide the same level of protection against patent infringement suits to companies running U.K. trials of innovative products that include patented active ingredients as it does to companies running trials of generics. The section -- which covers the use of a patented drug as an active comparator or as part of a drug combination in a clinical trial of another product -- previously prevented a patent owner from suing a company that uses a drug in a trial for a generic, but it did not provide protection to companies running trials of innovative products containing patented active ingredients, including oral formulations of patented IV antibiotics or combination products. ...