Regulation (EU) 2019/6 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Section 5 Specific requirements for generic, hybrid and combination veterinary medicinal products and for applications based on informed consent and bibliographic data

Article 18 Generic veterinary medicinal products

1. By way of derogation from point (b) of Article 8(1), it shall not be required that an application for a marketing authorisation for a generic veterinary medicinal product contain the documentation on safety and efficacy if all the following conditions are fulfilled:

(a) bioavailability studies have demonstrated bioequivalence of a generic veterinary medicinal product with the reference veterinary medicinal product or a justification is provided as to why such studies were not performed;

(b) the application satisfies the requirements set out in Annex II;

(c) the applicant demonstrates that the application concerns a generic veterinary medicinal product of a reference veterinary medicinal product for which the period of protection of the technical documentation laid down in Articles 39 and 40 has elapsed or is due to elapse in less than two years.

2. Where the active substance of a generic veterinary medicinal product consists of salts, esters, ethers, isomers and mixtures of isomers, complexes or derivatives differing from the active substance used in the reference veterinary medicinal product, it shall be considered to be the same active substance as that used in the reference veterinary medicinal product, unless it differs significantly in respect of properties with regard to safety or efficacy. Where it differs significantly in respect of those properties, the applicant shall submit additional information in order to prove the safety or efficacy of the various salts, esters or derivatives of the authorised active substance of the reference veterinary medicinal product.

3. Where several immediate-release oral pharmaceutical forms of a generic veterinary medicinal product are presented, they shall be considered to be the same pharmaceutical form.

4. Where the reference veterinary medicinal product is not authorised in the Member State in which the application for the generic veterinary medicinal product is submitted, or the application is submitted in accordance with Article 42(4) and the reference veterinary medicinal product is authorised in a Member State, the applicant shall indicate in its application the Member State in which the reference veterinary medicinal product has been authorised.

5. The competent authority or the Agency, as applicable, may request information on the reference veterinary medicinal product from the competent authority of the Member State where it is authorised. Such information shall be transmitted to the requestor within 30 days of receipt of the request.

6. The summary of the product characteristics of the generic veterinary medicinal product shall be essentially similar to that of the reference veterinary medicinal product. However, that requirement shall not apply to those parts of the summary of the product characteristics of the reference veterinary medicinal product that refer to indications or pharmaceutical forms which are still covered by patent law at the time when the generic veterinary medicinal product is authorised.

7. A competent authority or the Agency, as applicable, may require the applicant to provide safety data concerning the potential risks posed by the generic veterinary medicinal product to the environment where the marketing authorisation for the reference veterinary medicinal product was granted before 1 October 2005.

Article 19 Hybrid veterinary medicinal products

1. By way of derogation from Article 18(1), the results of appropriate pre-clinical studies or clinical trials shall be required when the veterinary medicinal product does not meet all the characteristics of a generic veterinary medicinal product because of one or more of the following reasons:

(a) there are changes in the active substance or substances, indications for use, strength, pharmaceutical form or route of administration of the generic veterinary medicinal product compared to the reference veterinary medicinal product;

(b) bioavailability studies cannot be used to demonstrate bioequivalence with the reference veterinary medicinal product; or

(c) there are differences relating to raw materials or in manufacturing processes of the biological veterinary medicinal product and the reference biological veterinary medicinal product.

2. The pre-clinical studies or clinical trials for a hybrid veterinary medicinal product may be conducted with batches of the reference veterinary medicinal product authorised in the Union or in a third country.

The applicant shall demonstrate that the reference veterinary medicinal product authorised in a third country has been authorised in accordance with requirements equivalent to those established in the Union for the reference veterinary medicinal product and are so highly similar that they can substitute each other in the clinical trials.

Article 20 Combination veterinary medicinal products

By way of derogation from point (b) of Article 8(1), in the case of veterinary medicinal products containing active substances used in the composition of authorised veterinary medicinal products it shall not be required to provide safety and efficacy data relating to each individual active substance.

Article 21 Application based on informed consent

By way of derogation from point (b) of Article 8(1), an applicant for a marketing authorisation for a veterinary medicinal product shall not be required to provide the technical documentation on quality, safety and efficacy if that applicant demonstrates permission, in the form of a letter of access, to use such documentation submitted in respect of the already authorised veterinary medicinal product.

Article 22 Application based on bibliographic data

1. By way of derogation from point (b) of Article 8(1), the applicant shall not be required to provide the documentation on safety and efficacy if that applicant demonstrates that the active substances of the veterinary medicinal product have been in well-established veterinary use within the Union for at least 10 years, that their efficacy is documented and that they provide an acceptable level of safety.

2. The application shall satisfy the requirements set out in Annex II.