Woops, Norway is listed on the lower level watch list for patent violation by the US Trade Representative:

Norway will be added to the Watch List in 2008. The United States is concerned about the lack of product patent protection for certain pharmaceutical products. The regulatory framework in Norway regarding process patents filed prior to 1992 denies adequate protection to nearly 75 percent of the pharmaceutical products currently on the Norwegian market, according to U.S. industry reports. The United States will continue to encourage Norway to resolve this issue.

The Norwegian version of Pharma, Legemiddelindustriforeningen agrees with USTR that there is a weaker patent protection for older pharmaceuticals, and that the practice is in violation of the law, as the law was intended to give generic access once the patent expired.

The Norwegian Undersecretary of Trade and Commerce, Annelene Svingen disagrees with the listing, but similarly defends the practice by stating that intellectual property rights must be balanced against other prioritizations.

“Generic pharmaceuticals frees up resources for society and the individual patient. If we strengthen intellectual property rights on pharmaceuticals”, she says. “The price of medications in Norway will increase.”

The price of medications in Norway is only a concern for the government, as Norway has a public health care systems where the government covers a significant amount of common drugs. Only some medications however are listed as covered, while patients have to pay out of pocket for newer medications. The medications on the government list are tried and true, which indicates they might be the ones where generic copies are available.

This does not change my stance that public health care inevitably leads to poorer health care.