Israel has been invited on an ad hoc basis to participate as an observer in discussions by the trade committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). At the same time, Israel’s chances of being accepted as an OECD member in 2005 are unclear.
The US is expected to decide shortly whether to downgrade Israel to the priority watch list of countries violating intellectual property rights, following Israel proposed legislation on data exclusivity for ethical drugs. The US regards the legislation at unsatisfactory.
During Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Ehud Olmert’s visit to Washington for talks on the issue in late November, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick notified him that the US did not accept the Israeli proposal for less than five full years of data exclusivity, since exclusivity in Israel would expire simultaneously with the expiration of exclusivity in another key country in which a drug was registered before being registered in Israel.
Zoellick’s statement surprised Olmert, who, relying on professional staff talks between the two sides before his visit between, has assumed that a compromise was about to be reached between the parties, despite lobbying by US pharma companies.
Sources close to the talks said that the company leading the lobbying effort against the Israeli proposal was Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), which was applying heavy pressure to prevent Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) from attaining an advantage in penetrating the US market with its generic products as soon as their patents expired there. Patents for a number of Pfizer’s important drugs are due to expire in 2006.
Israel announced that it would not compromise on its position. This stance could affect its rating, and could also delay its entry into the OECD as a full member. At the same time, Olmert said that inviting Israel to the OECD trade committee was a further step in increasing cooperation between Israel and the OECD.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on December 28, 2004