Argentina Is "Pharma Industry's Top Problem"

Intellectual property rights, drug regulatory issues and each market'sdiffering business conditions are the three issues which the pharmaceutical industry must deal with constantly, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America senior vice president for international affairs, Harvey Bale, has told a press briefing on international issues. Every significant issue falls under one of these three categories, he said.

IP is the industry's sine qua non, he said; without patent protection there is no incentive for research. Drug regulatory issues include possible US Food and Drug Administration reform, European topics, BSE and how illegal Internet use impacts on the industry. The World Health Organization will discuss the latter at its upcoming meeting.

Argentina is the industry's top problem. Discussing the US Trade Representative's annual "special 301" review on IP rights protection, Mr Bale said the PhRMA had urged an out-of-cycle review for Argentina later this year, but the administration decided instead to put it into the "watch" category. Argentina has come a long way in economic reform, he said, but it has an oligarchic system dominated by about six firms which are trying to become multinationals. They steal patents and then charge more for the copies than the price of the innovator drugs, and use the profits to expand into Latin America and beyond. They have good marketing skills, a good technology base and an enormous economic base which they have used to block the legislature; when Argentina's president tried to introduce a patent bill some years ago, they blocked it.