‘Nine pharmacists who sold drugs illegally have been banned from practice, after a BBC investigation led to the “biggest crackdown” in UK pharmaceutical history.’
BBC News, 6th March 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A woman has been awarded £27,000 after a hospital began a Caesarean without giving her adequate pain relief.’
The Independent, 10th February 2016
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘In accordance with its general obligation of co-operation pursuant to article 111 of Council Directive 2001/83/EC, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency was lawfully entitled and obliged to supply the European Medicines Agency, pursuant to formal requests under article 8 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 658/2007, with information it had obtained from a marketing authorisation holder.’
WLR Daily, 21st December 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘It has been more than half a century since the thalidomide scandal, but Martin Fletcher finds that the victims’ fight for compensation is far from over.’
Daily Telegraph, 7th January 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Britain’s drug regulators have given the go-ahead for a British American Tobacco (BAT) e-cigarette to be sold as a medicine for quitting smoking, the first such product to be given a drug licence in the UK.’
The Guardian, 4th January 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘In Swiss Style Claims: Warner-Lambert Companv Actavis 25 Jan 2015 I explained that Warner-Lambert LLC had a patent for a drug called pregabalin for treating epilepsy and GAD (generalized anxiety disorder). That patent expired in 2013 although the monopoly was extended for a short time by a supplementary protection certificate which has now lapsed. Warner-Lambert discovered a new use for pregabalin in the treatment of neuropathic pain for which it was granted a new patent. Actavis sought the revocation of the new patent on grounds of obviousness and insufficiency and applied for permission to market pregabalin for the treatment of epilepsy and GAD. The case that I discussed in my case note was an unsuccessful attempt by Warner-Lambert to impose conditions on the sale of pregabilin in the UK (see Warner -Lambert Company, LLC v Actavis Group Ptc EHF and others [2015] EWHC 72 (Pat)).’
NIPC Law, 9th December 2015
Source: www.nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk
‘The UK’s advertising watchdog is investigating claims made by the makers of Nurofen after an Australian court ordered the company to step selling several versions of the popular painkiller.’
The Guardian, 15th December 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Two former UN consultants have been jailed by a UK court for receiving bribes to rig contracts worth £66m to supply life-saving drugs to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Guido Bakker, 41, and Sijbrandus Scheffer, 63, took payments totalling £650,000 from a Danish pharmaceutical company called Missionpharma in return for helping them win lucrative contracts.’
The Guardian, 23rd September 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘According to drugs.com, pregabalin is an anti-epileptic drug which works by slowing down impulses in the brain that cause seizures. A European patent for the drug was granted to Warner-Lambert Co, LLC (“Warner-Lambert”)(now a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc.) under EP number 0 641 330. That patent expired on 17 May 2013 but was extended by a supplementary protection certificate (“SPC”) until 17 May 2018. That SPC was allowed to lapse on 14 Oct 2013 and Warner-Lambert’s data exclusivity in respect of the data used to obtain the marketing authorisation for prehabalin expired on 8 July 2014. Since then anybody has been free to make, import or sell pregabalin for treating epilepsy and generalized anxiety disorder in the United Kingdom and several companies including some of the parties to these proceedings have done just that.’
NIPC Law, 18th September 2015
Source: www.nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk
‘FOCUS: The recent rebuke handed to a drugs manufacturer by a US regulator over the endorsement of its product by celebrity Kim Kardashian highlights differences in the way the direct marketing of prescription medicines is regulated in the US and UK.’
OUT-LAW.com, 13th August 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Legal highs are suspected to have been a factor in 19 self-inflicted deaths in prisons in England and Wales over the past two and a half years, an official investigation has found.’
The Guardian, 7th July 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Patents are powerful tools, but they only bite on the materials or methods described in their claims. Or do they? Two recent appeal decisions show that the monopoly owned by a patent-holder can spill out over the edges of the claims, making life uncertain for those trying to steer a way around them.’
Technology Law Update, 3rd July 2015
Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk
‘A nurse who gave a patient a lethal overdose of a prescription drug has been found not guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.’
BBC News, 15th June 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Welsh people left disabled by the thalidomide drug scandal are being backed in their fight for compensation by Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans.’
BBC News, 31st May 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Health ministers want to introduce an airline-style error reporting system for the UK’s high street pharmacies.’
BBC News, 24th May 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Members of a gang that made up to £60,000 a week selling fake Viagra through a bogus mail order fishing tackle business have been sentenced for their part in what was described by a judge as a “highly organised, large-scale criminal enterprise”.’
The Guardian, 13th April 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘A migrant who claims her psychosis was triggered by medication given to her at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre is to be allowed to sue the government.’
BBC News, 1st April 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘For many years, there has been a prescribed limit to the amount of alcohol one may have in one’s system when driving, but there has been no parallel legislation or specified limit in relation to drug-driving, prescribed or otherwise.’
Park Square Barristers, 24th February 2015
Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk
‘A brand-owner generally wants to use the same brand across several countries, but there are industries where national branding is common. Pharmaceuticals is one. In a free trade bloc like the EU this leads to a tension between the free movement of goods and protection of IP rights. The interplay of the EU rules in this area has come under the spotlight in SEP v Doncaster.’
Technology Law Update, 6th March 2015
Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk
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