CPA Successfully Assists European Pharma Company in Obtaining 5-Year Patent Term Extension (PTE)

Recently, our firm China Patent Agent (H.K.) Ltd. (CPA) successfully assisted a renowned European pharmaceutical company in its request for a patent term extension (PTE) with the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).

Our client was granted a 5-year extension, the maximum period stipulated in the Patent Law, additional to the patent term of its drug approved for marketing by the National Medical Products Administration of China (NMPA). The drug in question is a Class 1 new chemical drug. This PTE extension will surely fortify and reinforce the protection for the client's legitimate rights and interests in China market.

After getting the approval for marketing of the drug in question, CPA has worked closely with the patent holder and prepared the PTE request documents in strict adherence to relevant laws and regulations. And following several months' review, our client was successfully granted the PTE.

In recent years, almost a score of drug-related PTE requests have been approved and published in the country, indicating the smooth progress of relevant review work and CNIPA's attaching importance to the protection of IP rights of innovation entities, and with increasing sophistication of the practices, the PTE system has been conducive to building a fair, transparent, and predictable environment for IP protection, and strengthening international pharmaceutical companies' confidence in their long-term development in China.

In future, CPA will keep monitoring the development of PTE practices in China, carry out in-depth research on relevant laws and policies, and continuously enhance its professional capabilities, to provide both domestic and foreign clients with even better services to safeguard their IP rights.