US Generics Firms Rapped Over GATT

US generic drug manufacturers have been criticized by senate Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin Hatch for not raising questions about how they would be affected by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade implementing legislation (the Uruguay Round Agreements Act) during the hearings on the legislation held by the Committee in December 1994.

At a hearing on the bill (see also page 13), Sen Hatch said that despite "extensive" hearings, in particular on the 20-year patent term, there was "not one witness, not one comment on approval of generic drugs during the delta period," and he asked: "where in the world was the generic industry during those hearings?"

He also dismissed as "a vast over-simplification" claims of an "unintended" and "technical oversight" which produced a "windfall" to innovator companies at the expense of consumers and the generic industry. The GATT legislation resulted in extended patent life for all industries, including pharmaceuticals, he said, and by definition, any "new bright line" such as this creates winners and losers.