Twenty-one years of SPCs – a cause for celebration?

Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) for medicinal products were created in Europe 21 years ago this year, with the enactment of Council Regulation No. 1768/92. The aim was to improve the protection of innovation in the pharmaceutical sector. Although patents represented the best tool for protecting innovation in general, it was recognised by the European Commission that additional measures were required to support the research and development of new medicines.