Extension of Patent Terms for Pharmaceuticals

Patents which are related to pharmaceuticals can provide a significantly shorter effective protection for the resulting products, since a considerable time of the patent life may pass before all conditions for the market approval of pharmaceutical products are fulfilled. For such cases, some countries extend the patent duration of pharmaceutical patents to cover or offset the time which is lost during the registration of the related product. Possible extensions are equivalent to the time required to get market approval but are not meant to compensate for time losses associated with the technical hurdles of product development. 

Extensions of patent duration for pharmaceuticals are available in the following countries  

It should be noted that applications for a patent term extension must be handed in as early as within 60 days (USA) or 6 months (EPO) from product approval. 

---