U.S. officials announced Monday they had finalized a trade agreement with Pacific Rim nations—a move applauded by some trade groups but criticized by others.

The new Trans-Pacific Partnership was five years in the making, NPR reported. The deal would lift several obstacles for trade between the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim countries, although China is not among them. http://n.pr/1Mb0Lv6

One of the sticking points in negotiations had been over the length of exclusive patents for biological drugs, according to NPR. The final version of TPP contained no such intellectual property protections, earning the scorn of associations that represent the pharmaceutical industry.

"While the TPP agreement will not impact the U.S. data protection period, we believe the failure of our Asian-Pacific partners to agree to a similar length of protection is remarkably short-sighted and has the potential to chill global investment and slow development of new breakthrough treatments for suffering patients," said Jim Greenwood, CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

John Castellani, CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said strong intellectual property protections were needed to spur the discovery and development of new treatments and therapies.

"We are disappointed that the Ministers failed to secure 12 years of data protection for biologic medicines, which represent the next wave of innovation in our industry," he said. "This term was not a random number, but the result of a long debate in Congress, which determined that this period of time captured the appropriate balance that stimulated research but gave access to biosimilars in a timely manner."

Concerns about pharmaceutical patent protections aside, the trade deal generated largely positive responses from the business community.

"Data-driven innovation and services present a huge opportunity for the global economy and the software industry," said Victoria Espinel, CEO of BSA | The Software Alliance. "For the first time, enforceable trade rules establish free flow of data across borders as the rule and address trade barriers such as requiring localization of servers."

David French, senior vice president for government relations at the National Retail Federation, called TPP vital for "retailers large and small."

"International trade supports millions of jobs in the retail industry, and that number will only grow with passage of TPP," he said.

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