Another call for reform of Canada's pharma intellectual property laws

Canada's pharmaceutical intellectual property laws need major reform to encourage and protect innovation in developing new drugs, states an analysis in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), echoing calls for action from the nation’s Rx&D, which in particular wants Canada to move forward in trade talks with the European Union on a Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), which includes provisions for improving IP legislation (The Pharma Letters October 23 and 12 and June 11).

According to the CMAJ article, the federal government supports drug innovation in several ways, including funding of basic research, and tax breaks for companies that conduct drug R&D in Canada. Patents, however, are the most significant and valuable form of support. Patents provide developers of new pharmaceuticals with exclusive rights to market drugs without competition from generic manufacturers. However, there are problems with the current approach.

"We argue that the system is broken," writes Paul Grootendorst, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, with co-authors, noting: "The adjudication of patent validity (and hence the period of market exclusivity) is determined by extraordinarily costly and time-consuming litigation between generic and brand (ie, innovator) drug companies."