Mexico: New evaluation option for new compositions

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Mexico: New evaluation option for new compositions

In February 2017, new guidelines were published by the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS) that should be followed by medicaments or drugs considered as new molecules before the new molecules committee for evaluation, including the non-person modalities.

Such guidelines define if a drug or medicine should be evaluated under the person modalities or non-person modalities, according to the current law and the risk, complexity or nature of the product.

It is worth mentioning that the committee of new molecules for evaluation define that a new molecule is a natural or synthetic substance that is an active drug in a medicine, not previously used in Mexico, wherein the safety, effectiveness and therapeutic uses are not completely documented in the scientific bibliography.

On the other hand, consider that the previous practice to evaluate a medicine was under person modalities, wherein the applicant for a drug or medicine together with his committee appear before the New Molecules Committee presenting the information to support the quality, safety and effectiveness of product.

With the non-person modalities, the applicant should prove to COFEPRIS the information to support the quality, safety and effectiveness of a product to be evaluated without appearing before the Committee of New Molecules.

The considerations that the applicant should take into account about the characteristics of the product are:

a) first marketing authorisation in the world;

b) new marketing authorisation in Mexico (product authorised by other country);

c) new combination with a fixed dose; and

d) therapeutic indication (including: bordering of therapeutic indication, changes in the treatment line).

If the product was evaluated by some international sanitary agency with which COFEPRIS has an agreement, the applicant should consider the option of non-present modalities. Some such agencies are the Food and Drug Administration of USA (FDA), Health Canada, European Medicines Agency (EMA), Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products (Swissmedic).

Agustin Azcatl

Olivares

Pedro Luis Ogazón No 17

Col San Angel

01000 México DF

Tel: +5255 53 22 30 00

Fax: +5255 53 22 30 01

olivlaw@olivares.com.mx

www.olivares.com.mx

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Erise IP has added a seven-practitioner trademark team from Hovey Williams, signalling its intention to help clients at all stages of development
News of prison sentences for ex-Samsung executives for trade secrets violation and an opposition filed by Taylor Swift were also among the top talking points
A multijurisdictional claim filed by InterDigital and a new spin-off firm in Germany were also among the top talking points
Duarte Lima, MD of Spruson & Ferguson’s Asia practice, says practitioners must adapt to process changes within IP systems, as well as be mindful of the implications of tech on their practices
Practitioners say the UK Supreme Court’s decision could boost the attractiveness of the UK for AI companies
New awards, including US ‘Firm of the Year’ and Latin America ‘Firm to Watch’, are among more than 90 prizes that will recognise firms and practitioners
DWF helped client Dairy UK secure a major victory at the UK Supreme Court
Hepworth Browne led Emotional Perception AI to victory at the UK Supreme Court, which rejected a previous appellate decision that said an AI network was not patentable
James Hill, general counsel at Norwich City FC, reveals how he balances fan engagement with brand enforcement, and when he calls on IP firms for advice
In the second of a two-part article, Gabrielle Faure-André and Stéphanie Garçon at Santarelli unpick EPO, UPC and French case law to assess the importance of clinical development timelines in inventive step analyses
Gift this article