POLITICO Quotes Brian Pomper on TPP, Hatch and Pharma

Akin Gump public law and policy partner Brian Pomper was quoted by POLITICO for its article “Opening the Hatch to Pharma Support for TPP,” on the role that Sen. Orrin Hatch, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, has in securing the pharmaceutical industry’s support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

Pomper said that, if the Obama administration can get Sen. Hatch to back the TPP, the pharma industry would follow: “I do think they have long viewed Chairman Hatch as their champion...I think they will follow his leadership.”

The article notes that the pharma industry has complained that the TPP does not provide 12 years of data protection for biologic drugs, offering, instead, eight years’ protection or five years plus “other measures…and market circumstances” that would deliver a similar outcome.

Pomper said that a solution could clarify what the terms “other measures” and “market circumstances” would mean for pharma companies.