New policies weakening IP innovation incentives: report
Despite the importance of IP rights to biotech and biopharma innovation, recent decisions and new policies are weakening and reducing the scope of IP-based incentives, according to a report.
The fifth edition of “ Building the Bioeconomy”, developed by consultancy firm Pugatch Consilium and commissioned by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), was published on November 19.
Using 28 indicators, the report analysed the biotechnology environment for 33 countries from all major regions of the world.
“For biopharmaceutical as well as non-pharmaceutical biological products and technologies, the evidence suggests that IPRs incentivise and support the research and development of new biological technologies and products,” said the report.
However, new policies and recent decisions in established and aspiring global innovation leaders are reducing these incentives.
“What is slightly different this year versus previous editions of ‘Building the Bioeconomy’ is how the weakening of the principle of IP rights is taking place in some of the countries that have benefited the most from clear and unambiguous IP-based incentives,” noted the report.
It cited the European Commission’s legislative proposal to provide European manufacturers of generic drugs and biosimilars with a supplementary protection certificate (SPC) manufacturing exemption as an example of this.
The report added: “Unfortunately, the Commission appears to have lost sight of the fact that IP incentives, including SPC protection, have been central to the success of Europe’s research-based biopharmaceutical industry.”
The report also referenced developments from South Africa, which, in March 2018, approved its long-awaited IP policy.
While the report said this was a positive step, it claimed the policy focuses on ways in which the country could better access existing and developed forms of IP rather than on the manner in which IP can be created, commercialised and become an industrial asset.
Overall, the report concluded that economies that “tend to have stronger environments with all enabling policy factors in place tend also to see higher levels of biotechnology outputs”.
It found that countries which are successful in finding the right balance between the regulatory arena and biotechnology innovation are more likely to achieve and sustain cutting-edge biotech innovation.
Discussing the report, Joseph Damond, executive vice president of international affairs at BIO, said: “Regulations need to strike a balance that stimulates innovation without dampening broader economic efficiencies. More than in other industry, the interplay between biotechnology innovation and regulation has important social and economic implications.”
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