Argentina: No Patents For Drugs Till 2005

The proposed patent protection legislation sent by a Senate committee in the Argentine Congress for debate in the full Senate last month would provide patent protection for products 180 days after the law is implemented, except for pharmaceuticals, which would not receive patent cover until January 1, 2005.

A bill submitted by President Carlos Menem, which has been with the Senate since the early part of the year, would provide 20-year patent protection for pharmaceuticals as soon as it is passed, but local observers believe that continued opposition in the House of Deputies means that there is now very little chance of this bill passing before this Congress ends on November 30.

Lobbying by the local drug manufacturers, who control around 60% of the $3.4 billion domestic market, has stalled President Menem's bill for more than three years despite pressure from the US Trade Representative on behalf of the multinationals (Marketletters passim).