Vaccine verdict appeal possible
Oslo District Court ruled in favour of MSD Animal Health last week, after Pharmaq challenged the decision to grant MSD a 5-year extension of protection for its SPDV-based PD vaccine.
The court’s decision was deeply disappointing for Pharmaq, which was hoping to be able to bring its own PD vaccine onto the market soon, thus breaking an effective monopoly on the product – a move which would have almost driven down the price of PD vaccines for farmers.
Pharmaq also claimed that MSD’s patent protection did not apply to a Pharmaq vaccine in development because it is based on a different isolate of the same virus.
A release from Pharmaq issued after the decision stated: “We note that the Oslo Court has not followed our line of arguments in the first part of this case, and this is of course disappointing, not only for Pharmaq, but also for the aquaculture industry because this will mean a continued monopoly going forward.
“Over the next days and weeks, we will perform a careful review of the ruling before deciding on whether or not to appeal. We are also continuing our preparations for the next court hearing which is scheduled for the second half of September in the Oslo Court. In this hearing, we will present our arguments for granting Pharmaq a license for market access.”
However, Petter Frost, managing director of MSD Animal Health Innovation, the company’s Bergen-based research and development centre, said the decision provides an incentive for companies to commit large resources to research.
