Turkey's beleaguered pharma industry warns Industrial Property Rights protection imperilled

Already impacted by draconian drug price cuts, R&D-based drugmakers in Turkey say they are facing another peril, in that patent infringers will enjoy impunity from penalty unless there is enactment of new legislation.

"Unless a legislative disposition is urgently made by Thursday, June 10, 2010, it will be extremely hard to prosecute patent infringements, and the risk exists of potentially causing the dismissal of pending law suits against infringers," the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (AiFD) warned.

Only a week from the effective date of the Constitutional Court's repeal decision, steps remain untaken to bridge the regulatory gap which is expected to result from the repeal. Unless the GNAoT passes legislation by tomorrow, there will be no enforceable legal provision to punish patent infringements, giving rise to a regulatory void in this area. Not only will this make it difficult to prosecute patent infringements, it will also potentially cause the dismissal of pending law suits. Two separate bills to address the issue are currently on the agenda of the GNAoT Justice Committee. A similar regulatory void was experienced in early 2009 with the penalties against trademark infringements.