‘Medicines are tightly regulated – for good reason. But what about those products occupying the grey area around obviously medicinal products: food supplements, sports nutrition, herbal and homeopathic remedies, for example? When should these borderline products receive the same scrutiny and control?.’
Technology Law Update, 20th June 2014
Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk
‘Thalidomide victims have launched legal action against the drug’s manufacturer and distributor 50 years after it was prescribed to their mothers.’
BBC News, 5th June 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Sex attacker Kelvyn Lester, 47, declined to take medication for erectile dysfunction so officers could photograph his penis for an identification procedure.’
Daily Telegraph, 7th April 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘This is the sad tale of a young woman aged 31 dying in mysterious circumstances where the inquest went off entirely on the wrong footing. Joanne Foreman was not a diabetic but lived with a young boy who was. It was suspected that on the night before she died she had drunk heavily and then injected herself with insulin. The inquest proceeded on this basis. Nobody told the expert that the paramedics had taken a blood glucose from Joanne, which was entirely normal. Once this was known, it was obvious that the court would quash the findings at inquest and order a new inquest.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 25th February 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘The Supplementary Protection Certificate. A marvellous little device for giving back to a patent owner the lost years during which it has been obtaining regulatory approval for its products in those heavily regulated areas: pharmaceuticals and plant protection products. You simply extend the patent by the number of years that the product has spent caught up in the approval process, and there you are. A gain of up to five valuable years on the end of your patent in the prime of the product’s life.’
Technology Law Update, 26th February 2014
Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk
‘Ketamine, the horse tranquiliser that has become a popular party drug, is to be upgraded from a class C to a class B banned substance by the Government in an attempt to deter its increasing use.’
The Independent, 12th February 2014
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘A cancer patient has been jailed for life for killing his wife and daughter after suffering an adverse psychiatric reaction to his chemotherapy drugs.’
BBC News, 16th January 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Where, on the basis of a patent protecting an innovative active ingredient and a marketing authorisation for a medicinal product containing that ingredient as the single active ingredient, the holder of that patent had already obtained a supplementary protection certificate (“SPC”) for that active ingredient entitling him to oppose the use of that active ingredient, either alone or in combination with other active ingredients, article 3(c) of Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 precluded that patent holder from obtaining—on the basis of that same patent but a subsequent marketing authorisation (“MA”) for a different medicinal product containing that active ingredient in conjunction with another active ingredient which was not protected as such by the patent— a second supplementary protection certificate relating to that combination of active ingredients.’
WLR Daily, 12th December 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Eli Lilly and Co Ltd v Human Genome Sciences Inc (Case C-493/12); [2013] WLR (D) 489
‘Pursuant to article 3(a) of Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 469/2009, in order for an active ingredient to be regarded as “protected by a basic patent in force” within the meaning of that provision, it was not necessary for the active ingredient to be identified in the claims of the patent by a structural formula. Where the active ingredient was covered by a functional formula in the claims of a patent issued by the European Patents Office (“the EPO”), article 3(a) of that Regulation did not, in principle, preclude the grant of a supplementary protection certificate for that active ingredient, on condition that it was possible to reach the conclusion that the claims related, implicitly but necessarily and specifically, to the active ingredient in question.’
WLR Daily, 12th December 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Georgetown University v Octrooicentrum Nederland (Case C-484/12); [2013] WLR (D) 487
‘Where, on the basis of a basic patent and a marketing authorisation for a medicinal product consisting of a combination of several active ingredients, the patent holder had already obtained a supplementary protection certificate for that combination of active ingredients, protected by that patent within the meaning of article 3(a) of Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 469/2009, article 3(c) of that regulation did not preclude the proprietor from also obtaining a supplementary protection certificate for one of those active ingredients which, individually, was also protected as such by that patent.’
WLR Daily, 12th December 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Around 500 patients could be dying each year because of an “astonishing” lack of training in the use of intravenous drips, health experts have warned.’
Daily Telegraph, 10th December 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘A drugs distributor was not justified in changing the name of products it had imported from France and Germany to sell into the UK to that of a rivals’ trade mark, the High Court has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 25th November 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“The ‘hard-working and respectable family man’ exposed himself due to the effect of drugs he was taking.”
Daily Telegraph, 18th November 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“A pharmaceuticals company did not act in breach of UK competition rules when it placed restrictions on its supply of a drug to one of its customers, the Court of Appeal has ruled.”
OUT-LAW.com, 14th November 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“Electronic cigarettes are to be classed as ‘medicines’ under new proposals to tighten up the regulation of nicotine-containing products.”
The Guardian, 12th June 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A hospital has paid an undisclosed amount after a pregnant woman was given acne drugs that caused her unborn baby severe abnormalities.”
BBC News, 11th June 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A pregnant woman suffering from ‘severe’ mental health problems has made an impassioned plea to a High Court judge, asking that she be granted an abortion.”
The Independent, 20th May 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“On 19 April 2013, the OFT announced that it had issued a Statement of Objections following its investigation into patent litigation settlement agreements (PLSAs) in the pharmaceutical sector.”
Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers, 3rd May 2013
Source: www.competitionbulletin.com
“A man who acted as full-time carer to his wife for the five years of their marriage has been jailed for administering an overdose of prescription drugs to her to give himself a day of respite.”
The Guardian, 31st January 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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