§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to ensure that restrictive patents on beneficial medicinal techniques do not prevent the use of those techniques on patients in the United Kingdom. [52897]
§ Mr. MilburnNot all inventions concerning medicinal techniques are patentable in the United Kingdom. Both the United Kingdom Patents Act (1977) and the European Patent Convention (1978), which govern the grant of patent rights having effect in the United Kingdom, expressly exclude from patentability methods of treatment by therapy, surgery and diagnosis which are practised on the human body.
Existing UK Patent Law already includes safeguards specifically to prevent the abuse of patent rights for any invention, including those associated with medicine, such as providing for compulsory licensing of rights in the event that the supply of a patented product is not being met on reasonable terms.
509W