US embassy cable - 03ABUDHABI4594

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 004594 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PPR AND EB/TPP/MTA/IPC 
STATE PASS USTR - KALVAREZ AND JBUNTIN 
USDOC FOR USPTO 
USDOC FOR 4250/DOC/MAC/ONE/GUGLIELMI 
GENEVA PASS USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/03 
TAGS: PREL, KIPR, ETRD, TC 
SUBJECT:  UAE HEALTH MINISTRY STRENGTHENS IPR PROTECTION FOR 
PHARMACEUTICALS 
 
REFS: 02 ABU DHABI 5438 AND PREVIOUS 
 
1.  (U) Classified by Charge D'Affaires Richard A. Albright 
for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
2.  (U) Summary and comment: The UAE Ministry of Health 
(MoH) issued a circular this week stating the mechanism of 
granting exclusive marketing rights in the UAE for all 
innovative pharmaceutical products registered in other 
countries.  The circular also implied that the MoH would 
coordinate with the UAE Ministry of Finance (MoF) to approve 
exclusive marketing rights, and offer protection for data 
secrecy. 
 
3.  (SBU) Summary and comment continued: This is good news 
for U.S. pharmaceutical manufactures that have sought to 
codify the prevailing practice under the terms of the patent 
protection agreement reached with U.S. pharmaceutical 
industry group, PhRMA in March 2002 (see refs).  The 
circular also extends the benefits of the March 2002 
agreement to all patent-protected drugs (not only U.S. 
origin pharmaceuticals) and strengthens the UAE's Patent Law 
released last year -- which failed to provide a mechanism 
for granting exclusive marketing rights absence MoH-MoF 
cooperation or afford any protection of data secrecy.  End 
summary and comment. 
 
4.  (U) The MoH circular issued this week explained that 
pharmaceutical manufacturers seeking patent protection in 
the UAE should register their innovative product with the 
MoF Patent Directorate, produce a Certificate of 
Pharmaceutical Product from the regulatory authority in the 
country of origin, and submit details of the original patent 
of the innovative product to the Patent Directorate. 
 
5.  (U) Once the MoF process is complete, the MoH will then 
grant exclusive marketing rights to the manufacturer for the 
innovative product.  The circular also suggests that there 
will be some protection of data exclusivity, and that this 
data secrecy period will run coterminous with the period of 
patent protection in the country where the original patent 
was granted.  The circular adds that patent protection in 
the UAE will be provided "as long as the patent is not 
rejected by the Patent Directorate or the courts in the 
country of origin."  An application to market generic drugs 
in the UAE would be accepted 12 months before the expiration 
date of the UAE protection of the innovative product. 
 
6.  (SBU) PhRMA's legal representative in the UAE told 
Econoff that the circular was welcome news to U.S. 
pharmaceutical companies.  He noted that this was the first 
step to strengthening the UAE's IPR legislation vis-a-vis 
pharmaceuticals, and is an obvious show of good faith by the 
UAEG to honor the terms of the March 2002 agreement.  He was 
skeptical however, that the circular would be applied evenly 
to U.S. and non-U.S. innovative products.  An expat adviser 
to the MoH admitted to him that the Ministry, in practice, 
grants exclusive marketing rights in the UAE only to 
patented products from the United States and Europe. 
 
Albright