Perhaps the most contentious issue left to resolve in the new Asia-Pacific free trade agreement concerns how long pharmaceutical companies should have exclusive intellectual property rights over their clinical trial data for novel biologic medicines. U.S. negotiators have pushed for 12 years of data protection, while other parties have sought as little as five to seven years. Stephen Ezell writes in The Hill that the real issue is whether we end up with an agreement more concerned with the long-term goal of maximizing biomedical innovation around the world or the short-term goal of slightly lower prices for the stock of medicines that exist today.
