Lincoln Chafee: “I agree entirely with my colleague, Senator Pryor, and wish to raise one simple but important point. It should be noted…”

“I agree entirely with my colleague, Senator Pryor, and wish to raise one simple but important point. It should be noted clearly and conclusively that there is an extensive record of evidence from the U.S. Trade Representative, the Patent and Trademark Office, and the Food and Drug Administration that a mistake was made by both the Congress and the administration. There is absolutely no question as to this fact. To dispel any doubts, I would like to submit for the Record an excerpt from Ambassador Mickey Kantor's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 27: The Congress and the Administration did not, however, take into account the technical interrelationship between the Patent Act and the regulation of pharmaceutical products by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. In fact, no one-- including those in the private sector who watched these developments closely--took this interrelationship into account. This [Senate Judiciary] Committee and the House Judiciary Committee held a joint hearing on August 12, 1994, to review the intellectual property provisions of the URAA and not a single reference was made to this system.”