The duration of patent protection will not cease until a period of at least 20 years from the date on which the patent application was filed has passed. This means that, under the TRIPS Agreement, Member States have to grant patents, for a minimum of 20 years, to any inventions of a pharmaceutical product or process that fulfils the established criteria of novelty, inventiveness and usefulness.

This will result in an increase in the duration of the patent owner’s monopoly in many Member States. In the pharmaceutical field, the logical consequence of this provision is that drugs will be subject to monopoly rights for a longer period and manufacturers of generic products will have to wait longer before they can produce the drug in question and sell it at a more affordable price.