Pharmaceutical companies in Ukraine have gained new opportunities to extend the patent protection of medicinal products.

On March 19, 2025, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine approved the Procedure for Examining Requests for Supplementary Protection of Invention Rights (Directive № 1803).

Since 2021, the issue of obtaining supplementary legal protection in Ukraine remained unresolved: the old instruction became outdated, and no new regulation had been adopted. The newly approved Procedure eliminates these obstacles and opens the way for obtaining a Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) — a legal mechanism that allows extending the term of a patent for up to 5 years after its expiration.

The new rules establish a clear list of documents required to obtain an SPC, set timelines for review, define the decision-making process, and introduce a procedure for appealing a refusal.

This is great news for patent holders of medicinal products that have undergone state registration (marketing authorization).