The Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) for medicinal and plant protection products is an exclusive right that extends the protection conferred by a basic patent with regard to specific products protected by said patent.
An SPC can extend the protection for a pharmaceutical or plant protection product by up to five years. In addition, in the case of paediatric medicinal products the supplementary protection certificate may provide extension for additional 6 months.
The possibility of extending the protection is a compensation for companies which have a shortened period of market exclusivity due to the need to conduct a multiple year research and to complete the procedures for obtaining marketing authorizations.
We have extensive experience in obtaining supplementary protection and provide our Clients with comprehensive advice and assistance in this respect.
Our patent team members Małgorzata Kaczmarczyk and Grażyna Wójcik have written a chapter on formal requirements and practice in Poland for the second edition of “European SPCs Unravelled: A Practitioner’s Guide to Supplementary Protection Certificates in Europe”, published by Wolters Kluwer.