Pacific Deal Rewrites Rules on Trade in Autos, Patented Drugs
- Deal aids U.S. drug companies in sales of biologic therapies
- Fruit and vegetable inspection rules to be simplified
Pacific-Rim Nations Agree to Pact to Cut Trade Barriers
The tentative agreement on trade negotiated by a dozen Pacific-rim nations will slightly pry open Japan’s famously closed rice market, protect brand-name drugs from generic competitors for at least five years and lower tariffs on automobiles.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, as the pact is known, will rewrite the rules of commerce among 12 nations that collectively produce an estimated 40 percent of the world’s economic output. It still faces hurdles, such as a vote in the U.S. Congress, but if ratified would have a far-reaching impact on goods and services.
The agreement establishes at least a five-year minimum period during which brand-name drug companies have exclusive rights to sell treatments made from living organisms, known as biologics, after they’ve been approved. That’s fewer than the 12-year exclusivity period granted under U.S. law, but is longer than the time frame now observed by many countries in the pact.