Intellectual property and pricing

We understand the importance of protecting intellectual property in pharmaceuticals and incentivising innovation, and the need to provide cost-effective access to medicines and healthcare. We advise on the design and impact of intellectual property policies and payment and reimbursement systems within the challenges and opportunities of a European and global pharmaceuticals market, applying learning from other regulated sectors. Our work includes:

For Merck Sharp and Dohme, an assessment of the practice of importing patented medicines across Europe, and the implications for the market of increased transparency of prices.
We delivered a study to Efpia on the impacts on the EU of the exclusion of patent extension provisions, in respect of medicines, from the forthcoming EU-MERCOSUR free trade agreement.
We produced a report for EuropaBio on the costs to the European patented medicines sector from a change on the current SPC framework.
For the European Patent Office, we studied the economic effects of introducing a grace period in Europe using as the main source of information a survey of those that have filed for patent protection in Europe the US and Japan.
Amongst our many projects on parallel trade, we have done four major studies for the European Commission on aspects of parallel trade relating to patient safety and counterfeiting, in both the medicines and medical devices sectors.