Sen. Max Baucus (Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee) and Sen. Orin Hatch (the Committee’s Ranking Minority Member) wrote Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis on March 22 asking for “comprehensive, strong, binding and enforceable” intellectual property protections in the Trans Pacific Partnership. Specifically, the letter from Sens. Baucus and Hatch asks that USTR seek “commitments from our trading partners that reflect the level of protection under U.S. law, for example 12 years of regulatory data protection for biologic pharmaceuticals.”
Earlier last week, Marantis testified before the Finance Committee, and faced tough questions from Senators Hatch and Menendez over data exclusivity for biologics. For instance, when Marantis told the panel that data exclusivity was a “tough issue” in the negotiations that was still being worked on, Hatch had asked how USTR could “ignore U.S. law.” Menendez said he would expect to see data exclusivity in the agreement when considering whether or not to support the final text.
The webcast of last week’s hearing is available here.
