Calls to stop non-EU voices from derailing SPC manufacturing waiver

Changes to a law that prevents generics and biosimilar manufacturers in Europe from having the same rights as those outside the continent must not be held up by the vested interests of those from elsewhere in the world.

That is the view of Medicines for Europe, a group that lobbies on behalf of European generics and biosimilar companies and has called for a change to the supplementary protection certification (SPC), a certificate that allows originator pharmaceutical manufacturers to extend the 20-year patent protection on their medicines by an additional five years.

"Foreign vested interests should not be allowed to interfere"