POLITICO: …As part of the Affordable Care Act, the White House acceded to industry requests for a dozen years of exclusivity for biologics. Since then, however, the administration has repeatedly tried through budget proposals to cut the period to seven years. If the administration were to agree to a dozen years in the trade talks, it would lock in that period at home, too.
U.S. negotiators adopted the 12-year term as their initial position but are facing strong opposition from the other Pacific Rim countries. In Washington, many Democrats and the AARP oppose such a long period of exclusivity based on the same concerns of affordability and access abroad as well as at home…
“Around the table, you have five countries that have zero years, four countries that have five years, two countries that have eight years, and we’re 12 years,” [Trade Representative Michael ] Froman testified at a Senate Finance Committee hearing in April… (more)
EDITOR: The pharmaceutical companies have bludgeoned arrangements not only for too long a protection against generics, but also so that Medicare cannot not seek competitive pricing. It is time they be put in their place.
