Trade expert Federico Cuello says that if the US free trade agreement is approved as proposed, it may mark the disappearance of the local pharmaceutical industry. He said the local industry would not be able to produce patented products, in light of the impediment to exercise rights acquired as part of agreements under the World Trade Organization. Hoy newspaper reports that Cuello says the complicated procedures to be instated in the agreement would require any local companies to have access to company tests in order to demonstrate the harmlessness of the product involved. Local companies would only have access to this data if facilitated by the major US pharmaceutical companies, who view the local manufacturers as their low-cost competitors. “Consequently, the local pharmaceutical industry would not be able to manufacture these,” he said, explaining that Dominican consumers would have to purchase the much more costly imports. Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the United States are expected to conclude this Friday in Washington, D.C.