US pharma body welcomes Russian WTO accession

The president of US pharmaceutical industry association PhRMA has welcomed the imminent approval of Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in December, as strengthening intellectual property protection for medicine manufacturers selling in Russia.

John Castellani noted that under Moscow’s commitments to join the WTO – which is expected to be sanctioned by a ministerial meeting in Geneva on 15-17 December – there will be six years’ protection of proprietary data. He said this was ‘a provision critical to both to the ability of Russian patients to gain access to new and innovative medicines and our industry’s ability to protect its IP’.

Castellani added: ‘Unfortunately, to date, Russia’s intellectual property protection has been lacking.’ Under the WTO’s ‘most favoured nation’ principle, trade guarantees such as this are available for all the trade body’s 153 members, including the European Union.

Russia’s accession agreement will also cause its import duties to fall across the board, and importers of pharmaceuticals will no longer need import licences. Russia will have to abide by global rules regarding its imposition of import bans based on health concerns about certain products; it has been accused of behaving in an arbitrary fashion in the past.

WTO Russia accession working party chairman, Iceland’s WTO Ambassador Stefán Jóhannesson said: ‘In acceding to the WTO, Russia embraces a series of rules and commitments that are the foundation of an open, transparent and non-discriminatory global trading system.

‘This win-win result will bring Russia more firmly into the global economy and make it a more attractive place to do business.’