William Pryor: “when we in Congress voted on the GATT treaty recently, we all knew that we were breaking down trade barriers and…”

“when we in Congress voted on the GATT treaty recently, we all knew that we were breaking down trade barriers and leveling the playing field in international trade. Make no mistake, I believe that Americans will benefit from this agreement when it is implemented in June. But never, Mr. President, in our wildest dreams or imagination, would we have ever thought we were voting to give special treatment and a $6 billion windfall to the prescription drug industry on one hand and higher drug prices to American consumers on the other. Yet that is exactly what is happening. Mr. President, here is what has happened to bring us to this point today. Last year, the United States agreed under GATT to a new patent law, good for 20 years from filing. Our old patents were for 17 years, the effective date from their date of issue. We also agreed under GATT to give existing patents the longer of the two patent terms. This extension applies to all industries. At the same time, we knew that generic companies of all kinds all over America had already made significant investments based upon old patent expiration dates. These companies were prepared to introduce their competitively priced drug products just as the brand-name monopolies end. We did not want to jeopardize the jobs and the factories which were at stake.”