Position on supplementary protection certificates for medicinal products

In this joint statement, several civil society organisations have expressed their major concerns about the role of supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) in the accessibility and price of medicines in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe.

SPCs have been introduced to stimulate the innovation of new medicines in the European Union, as well as to compensate companies for the time needed to acquire market authorisation for a medicine. However, research has shown no evidence that SPCs contribute to the innovation of new drugs.

The organisations therefore call for a thorough reform of intellectual property rights for medicines, starting with SPCs. The statement (see below) is in Dutch.