“The problem of intellectual property in Israel is being misstated, and the reports are out of context. I don’t believe that Teva Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) is involved. We plan to make concessions to the US on issues involving the pharmaceutical industry, although I don’t think they’re right,” Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labor Ehud Olmert told “Globes” today. Olmert was responding to the report yesterday that the US Trade Representative (USTR) was about to put Israel back on its priority watch list of countries in violation of intellectual property rights.
”The US knows that we’re planning to change our handling of exclusive data (the exclusive marketing of un-patented drugs) and will fulfill some of their demands, even though there’s no doubt that we have done no wrong. What’s involved is legitimate use that enables generic drug companies to achieve a position in which they will be able to produce generic drugs shortly after the patents expire. No production of generic drugs during the patent period is involved.
”I think that the problem that caused the complaint is the US assertion that we’re not respecting copyrights in the field of music. They have raised very strong objections in this matter. Any concern that they will downgrade our status on the watch list is due to music copyright violations, not pharmaceutical issues.”
An inter-ministerial committee of the Ministries of Industry, Trade, and Labor; Heath; Justice; and Finance is preparing a comprehensive document on subject of information confidentiality. The committee is due to submit its recommendations for amending procedures.
Yoav Shechter, general secretary of Pharma Israel - The Association of the Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies, which represents international drug firms, told “Globes”, “Pharma Israel is not fighting Teva. We don’t object to the generic drug industry, which plays a very important role in healthcare. The current situation, however, is damaging to Israel’s reputation and ability to attract investments in the pharmaceutical field. Israel’s current legislation has no counterpart in the Western world. The confidentiality of registration files, which is granted for five to ten years in Western countries, is unprotected in Israel.”
Teva VP global product marketing Dr. Aaron Schwartz said the problem amounted to “simple and direct defamation of the Ministry of Health, asserting that Teva, and in effect any other generic drug company, enjoys access to the documents of inventive companies. Teva has never received such a document from the Ministry of Health. To the best of my knowledge, no other company has obtained access to such material from an international company. Any such claim is a crude slander.”
Schwartz added, “The inventive companies want to get in Israel what they can't get in their home countries: exclusive data. That will enable them to extend their period of exclusivity, but the question is where the Ministry of Health will get the money. It’s Israel’s problem, not Teva’s. It’s well known that most of our sales are overseas.”
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on April 1, 2004