Reinhold Cohn Group (comprising Reinhold Cohn and Partners; and Gilat Bareket & Co.)

By Yoram Gavison, journalist - Ha'aretz newspaper

The following contribution is the Special Issue Newsletter “70 Years of Excellence” by the Reinhold Cohn Group that issued in June 2004, also celebrating the 70th anniversary of the firm.

In an Academic Conference in the honour of the late Dr. Reinhold Cohn organized by the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Haifa University’s Center for Law and Technology and the Reinhold Cohn Group, the Israeli Industry and Trade Minister and Deputy Prime-Minister, Mr. Ehud Olmert, announced that Israel has agreed in principle to pass legislation protecting the information in pharmaceutical product files.

The following is a translation of a news item in this regard published in the business section of Ha’aretz, Israel’s morning newspaper, on June 15, 2004:

Olmert: We have agreed to pass legislation protecting the information in pharmaceutical product files

The State of Israel has agreed in principle to pass legislation protecting the information in pharmaceutical product files, Industry and Trade Minister, Ehud Olmert, said yesterday at a conference about intellectual property and globalization held by the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Haifa University's Center for Law and Technology and the patent law firm of Reinhold Cohn & Partners.

U.S. pharmaceutical companies that develop innovative drugs have been applying pressure on Israel, through American representatives, to pass laws protecting the information contained in the pharmaceutical product files that they submit to the Israeli Health Ministry for the approval of generic drugs. The pharmaceutical manufacturers have pushed for Israel to pass a law prohibiting the use of the files of proprietary drugs for the approval of any generic drug, for at least five years after the former is registered by the Health Ministry.

Israel has declined in the past to pass such a law, and the U.S. administration threatened that Israel might be added to the list of countries that do not protect intellectual property. Olmert hinted that Israel's about turn regarding a data-exclusivity law was motivated by the potential damage that Israel was liable to sustain in the international arena. Yair Shiran of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, who is in charge of international treaties and trade policy, explained at the conference that the five-year protection to which Israel had agreed in principle, would be granted to medications that incorporate new chemical compounds. The final scope of protection that would be given to files pertaining to old compounds that are used for new purposes has not been decided yet and is up for negotiation, he noted.

The CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Israel Makov, said in response: "The decision was made after intensive pressure from U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers. It would be best if this legislation does not go through."

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