One of the biggest roadblocks to the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has criticised Australian pharmaceutical companies.

With anti-trading scepticism rising in the United States, those looking to pass the massive trade deal need support from pro-traders.

One of these is Senator Orrin Hatch, US Senate Finance Committee chairman.

But Senator Hatch has been holding out on passing the TPP through the US Congress, saying he wants changes to provisions for pharmaceutical, especially ‘biologics’.

‘Biologic’ is a term applied to genetically-engineered proteins derived from human genes, which are beginning to form a large part of new medical developments.

Senator Hatch has an issue with Australia's demand for a five-year data exclusivity on new biologics.

“Nobody in the pharmaceutical world, or in the biologics world, could agree with that,” he said this week.

“And they know that if they agreed with something that stupid, that the next thing you know you'd [Australia] turn around and you'd do it to pharmaceuticals.

“I can't blame your [former] ambassador trying to do what he was doing, except for one thing, he knows it's not right and he knows that it would just dry up the business, they wouldn't have the funds to be able to continue.

“We cannot agree to something that would just destroy the biologics industry. In essence what the Australians are saying is; ‘let us steal your patents’.

“They want things to come off patent as quickly as they can.

“But there still has to be enough patent term to be able to recoup the approximately $2 billion and 15 years of effort that you have in biologics, and there's no way you can do that in five years.”

Senator Hatch said he would accept no less than a 12 year deal, more than double the five years Australia wants.

“That is an agreement with no less than Ted Kennedy, who is as liberal as anyone ever sat in the United States Senate. He was up at the Cape when he sent me his proxy to vote for 12 years,” he said.

“So this is not some itty bitty out of the atmosphere pluck in, this is an absolute necessity if you're going to be in this world, if you're going to develop biologics and we have not only the opportunity for treatments, but we have the opportunity of serum for cures.”