The Hill: Australia should stop stalling negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Eric V. Schlecht, writer focused on budget and economic issues in Washington, D.C.

“…The [Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)] needs to include robust protections for advanced medicines — or we risk derailing investment in future life-saving medical discoveries. … [R]egulators have established data exclusivity, which prevents outside firms from accessing the research behind a new biopharmaceutical. This prohibition effectively prevents them from violating their intellectual property rights and creating copycat drugs. Here in the United States, data exclusivity is set at 12 years — and for good reason. … If exclusivity were set any shorter, generic firms could flood the market with copies before the original inventor has even gotten out of the red. … Australia is staunchly opposed to setting data exclusivity at 12 years. Its domestic patent system sets it at just five years — the length they want included in the final TPP deal. … Australia should stop resisting America’s calls for robust drug rights and help negotiators finally finish this historic trade deal. Future recipients of these medical innovations deserve no less” (9/18).