GHP April 2016

40 | ghp April 2016 The Forces Shaping the Pharma ‘Lab of the Future’ The conclusion of negotiations for the Trans-Pa- cific Partnership (TPP) trade deal will have brought a chill to a number of biotech players. While business has broadly supported the deal, which involves 12 Pacific Rim nations account- ing for 40% of the global economy, many bio- tech stakeholders have taken a dim view of the intellectual property implications. Compared to the US’s twelve-year rule on exclusivity for bio- logics – the time that a drug can be sold exclu- sively by one company with sole access to the data collected on treatments – the new treaty offers only eight years of exclusivity. According to industry bodies, this could negatively impact investment and the development of new break- through treatments.