[Ip-health] Israel may adopt drug exclusivity policy

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Israel may adopt drug exclusivity policy

Israel may pass exclusivity law as demanded for years by the United
States; Would ensure temporary monopoly for original medications

By Navit Zomer

Israel may pass an exclusivity law that would give medications
patented in Israel a monopoly in the local market and eliminate the
manufacturing of generic drugs, bowing to years of U.S. pressure for
Israel to adopt Western pharmaceutical regulations, Yedioth Ahronoth
reported on Thursday.


Until now, if Israeli registered an original drug by a foreign
manufacturer, local pharmaceutical firms could register generic drugs
at the same time.


Exclusivity laws in most Western countries forbid authorities to
reveal the make up of patented drugs for five years, and prevent the
marketing of generic brands during that time. U.S. trade
representatives had been pressing Israel in the past four years to
adopt such a policy, threatening to blacklist it as violating
intellectual property if the demand was not met.


Minister of Industry, Trade, and Employment Ehud Olmert has instructed
staff members to prepare a bill that would grant temporary exclusivity
to companies registering their drugs in Israel. The United States had
pushed for an eight-year monopoly but Olmet agreed to five. U.S. law
provides the standard five-year protection.

"There is no reason for us to cave in to American pressure," Olmert
told Yedioth Ahronoth. "We were more than prepared to be flexible. I
only insisted on the same rules the Americans themselves use.

"I am certainly not looking for a fight with the United States, but at
the end of the day I am the Israeli Minister for Industry and Trade,"
he said. "I have no intention of abandoning Israeli pharmaceutical
companies to serve the interests of American firms that can't compete
with Israeli companies on equal footing."