Hatch proposes TPP do-over

The White House rejected a suggestion from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to renegotiate biologics exclusivity provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty. Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday, Hatch said the TPP "appears to include a standard for only five years of data exclusivity for biologics, apparently with the possibility of an additional three years based on factors that are, as of right now, unclear at best."

Hatch said Trade Promotion Authority legislation passed by Congress instructed the administration to negotiate a treaty that provided IP protections similar to U.S. law, including 12 years of protection for biologics. "Administration officials have tried to make assurances that they pushed as hard as they could for more years," he said, but added that because the Obama administration "has repeatedly proposed to peel back domestic IP protections for biologics, they'll have to forgive those of us who doubt their commitment to getting 12 years of protection for U.S. companies who sell these products abroad." ...