The international drug industry group, IFPMA, the World Intellectual Property Organization and 20 big pharmas have launched Pat-INFORMED, a new patent database that can be used by governments to improve their medicines procurement programs. The R&D-based industry says it clearly links public patent information to registered medicines in a new, user-friendly online gateway. However, the European generics industry body Medicines For Europe says the move amounts to "patent linkage" and will have anti-competitive effects for generics firms.
A new global tool has been launched to help procurement agencies more easily assess patent status and thereby improve the way they purchase medicines, for example by allowing them to quickly ascertain whether they can lawfully obtain a generic medicine without infringing a patent.
The open-access Patent Information Initiative for Medicines (Pat-INFORMED) contains data on more than 14,000 individual patents, 600 patent families and...