\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Argentina flexibilized its regulation on pharmaceutical patents, eliminating a set of restrictions on foreign products that existed since 2012 and opening the door to imports.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The change was made as part of an agreement with the United States government.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the Argentine government overturned a 2012 resolution that established how pharmaceutical patents are analyzed and approved. Now, the National Institute of Intellectual Property will be in charge of processing the requests for patenting, analyzing each case individually, something it did before the resolution in question.<\/p>\n
The change means there will no longer be restrictions on certain categories of pharmaceutical and biotechnological products, which till now could only be patented by Argentine companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The elimination of those restrictions was a years-long demand from the U.S. The international pharmaceutical sector reportedly complained that the norm allowed for the proliferation of copycat products patented in Argentina.<\/p>\n
Part of the national pharma industry defended the regulation because it allowed them to develop their own generic versions of certain products, boosting the national industry and competitiveness, while providing cheaper versions of products.<\/p>\n
However, there will be no retroactive effect to the elimination of the restrictions, meaning that generic medications that are already being sold in the Argentine market will continue to be offered.<\/p>\n
Deregulation minister Federico Sturzenegger, who was behind the decision, said on X that it represents \u201ca transcendental improvement regarding intellectual property\u201d in Argentina.<\/p>\n
According to him, the 2012 resolution, approved during the government of Cristina Kirchner, \u201chad made it very hard (if not impossible) to obtain a medical patent in Argentina,\u201d which not only \u201cviolated the right to property\u201d but also \u201cdelayed the arrival of innovating therapies to the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sturzenegger said the decision puts Argentina in line with international standards on intellectual property and that, in exchange for the move, the U.S. will \u201copen its entire domestic market to our pharmaceutical industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American Chamber of Commerce in Argentina (AmCham) celebrated the decision, saying it will \u201cboost innovation in healthcare, eliminating restrictions that for years limited pharmaceutical patents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArgentina is creating conditions to attract investment, developing knowledge and competing globally again,\u201d AmCham said in an X post. \u201cWhen predictability, investment and innovation connect, the result is clear: a more competitive economy, and a more robust health system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Industrial Chamber of Argentine Pharmaceutical Laboratories (CILFA, by its Spanish initials) said in a statement that they trust in the National Institute of Intellectual Property\u2019s \u201ccompetence and technical capability\u201d to analyze patent requests \u201crigorously and on a scientific basis, granting patents for genuine pharmaceutical innovations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue goes beyond the private interests of the companies CILFA represents and affects, plain and simple, the public interest in health and access to medicines,\u201d the chamber wrote.<\/p>\n
Cover photo credit: Roberto Sorin\/Unsplash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Argentina flexibilized its regulation on pharmaceutical patents, eliminating a set of restrictions on foreign products that existed since 2012 and opening the door to imports.\u00a0 The change was made as part of an agreement with the United States government. On Wednesday, the Argentine government overturned a 2012 resolution that established how pharmaceutical patents are analyzed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":44117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[414,668,11846],"tags":[595,8971,11845],"class_list":["post-44116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-federico-sturzenegger","category-pharmaceutical-patents-in-argentina","tag-business","tag-federico-sturzenegger","tag-pharmaceutical-patents-in-argentina"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}