The United Kingdom has become a fully independent third country to the European Union. In this 32 page special report patent specialists Garreth Duncan and Jennifer O’Farrell shine a spotlight on the impact of Brexit on the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on the challenges ahead as well as areas of opportunity for the UK.

Implementing the trade agreement the UK has made with the EU, and working through the inevitable snags, is the next challenge facing the pharmaceutical industry. Coupled with the additional pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic, this represents a significant challenge, but one to which, we believe, the UK’s pharmaceutical industry will rise.

Intellectual property and the pharmaceutical sector are significant considerations for both the UK and the EU following Brexit. This is apparent from the publication of the EU’s Intellectual Property Action Plan to support the EU’s recovery and resilience, as well as its Pharmaceutical Strategy policy document, shortly before the trade agreement was signed.

This special report considers how the pharmaceutical industry should adapt its IP strategy. We examine the following key topics:

• Brexit’s impact on the supplementary protection certificate (SPC), unitary patent (UP) and Unified Patent Court systems.
• What’s in and out of the EU Pharmaceutical Strategy – and will the UK follow?
• What can the UK gain from the EU’s IP action plan?
• Regulatory independence for the UK – what’s the role for the MHRA post-Brexit?
• Implications of the rules of origin on the pharmaceutical industry.