Japan called on the United States to find a way to break a deadlock over protections for next-generation medicines on Saturday as talks on a sweeping trade pact were extended for another 24 hours.
Negotiators were up all night trying to broker a deal on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will create a free trade zone covering 40 percent of the world economy.
A push by the United States to set a longer period of exclusivity for drugmakers who develop biological drugs like Genentech's Avastin cancer-treatment has run into opposition from other TPP economies and is holding up a broader deal.