The data on the expiry of the patents will be accessible to the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Economic Development (Mise) has in fact accepted the request made by the department headed by Giulia Grillo
Edited by Antonella Petris
The data on the expiry of the patents will be accessible to the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Economic Development (Mise) has in fact accepted the request made by the department led by Giulia Grillo to facilitate access and consultation of the patent databases which contain information relating to the expiry dates of pharmaceutical patents and complementary protection certificates for medicines.
"The request - reads a note from the Ministry of Health - arises from the need of the technical offices of the Medicines Agency (Aifa) and the Regions to be able to access this precious data in an organic and timely manner, as emerged from the technical table on pharmaceutical governance and medical devices recently set up at the Ministry of Health".
"A need, the one indicated by the table - continues the Ministry of Health - linked to the objective of being able to deal with a periodic update of the National Pharmaceutical Handbook, since equivalent medicines, as is known, cannot be classified by the National Health Service with effect prior to the expiry date of the patent or the complementary protection certificate".
"It is quite evident that the possibility of finally being able to acquire the data in question quickly - wrote the Minister of Health, Giulia Grillo, to the Minister of Economic Development, Luigi Di Maio - assumes importance and a strategic impact for the purposes of classifying medicines charged to the National Health Service. For this, I thank the Mise for having filled a historic information gap, allowing us at this point to proceed with greater certainty and with a precise picture of the situation".
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