Government releases statement on the Pharmaceutical Patents Review

The federal government last week released a statement on the Pharmaceutical Patents Review report, confirming it “has no plans to respond to the report at this stage”.

The review, which commenced in late 2012, was conducted by an IP Australia-appointed panel under the previous government and the draft report was released for comment in April 2013. The review panel provided its final report to the previous government in May 2013; however, until now, the final report has not been released.

The review was conducted to “evaluate whether the system for pharmaceutical patents is effectively balancing the objectives of securing timely access to competitively priced pharmaceuticals, fostering innovation and supporting employment in research and industry” and made a number of recommendations that caused concern within the biotechnology industry.

The statement in response to the review report said: “The government notes that the report is one of a number of reviews of the pharmaceutical system conducted during the term of the previous government. The government has no plans to respond to the report at this stage but may take information in the report into account when considering future policy. The views expressed and recommendations made in the report are those of the review panel and do not necessarily reflect government policy.”

AusBiotech had made a written submission in response to the Pharmaceutical Patents Review’s Background and Suggested Issues Paper (November 2012) and appeared at the public hearings in February 2013.

AusBiotech submitted that incentives are being eroded over time, thereby undermining innovation of bio-pharmaceuticals in Australia, and there is a good case for extending intellectual property protections to rebalance the system.