# \[e-drug\] Governments in Trans-Pacific trade deal urged to reject political trade-offs harmful to access to medicines

**URL:** https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-governments-in-trans-pacific-trade-deal-urged-to-reject-political-trade-offs-harmful-to-access-to-medicines/39581
**Category:** e-drug
**Created:** [October 3, 2013, 8:48am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-governments-in-trans-pacific-trade-deal-urged-to-reject-political-trade-offs-harmful-to-access-to-medicines/39581 "2013-10-03T08:48:02Z")
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### Author: ![Joanna\_KEENAN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@Joanna\_KEENAN](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Joanna_KEENAN)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2013, 8:48am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-governments-in-trans-pacific-trade-deal-urged-to-reject-political-trade-offs-harmful-to-access-to-medicines/39581/1 "2013-10-03T08:48:02Z")

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E-DRUG: Governments in Trans-Pacific trade deal urged to reject political trade-offs  
harmful to access to medicines  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On sidelines of APEC Summit, US may propose differential treatment for some  
countries, which still blocks access to medicines for millions

[http://www.msfaccess.org/about-us/media-room/press-releases/governments-trans-pacific-trade-deal-urged-reject-political-trade](http://www.msfaccess.org/about-us/media-room/press-releases/governments-trans-pacific-trade-deal-urged-reject-political-trade)

New York/Bali, Indonesia, 3 October 2013  
As Asia-Pacific leaders prepare tomeet in Bali for the APEC Summit,  
where the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement trade deal will be high on the agenda,  
the international medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Fronteres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) urged governments not to make political trade-offs during trade negotiations that will harm access to affordable medicines for millions of people.

'So many millions of lives have been saved because of the availability of  
affordable generic medicines, but we could watch this important progress  
unravel as leaders trade away health in the TPP negotiations,' said Dr.  
Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director of MSF's Access Campaign. 'We can't  
let the lives of millions of people get entangled in the political hard  
bargaining as the US government pushes for the negotiations on this trade  
deal to wrap up.'

The United States' proposals in the TPP negotiations involve the most  
egregious intellectual property provisions ever seen in a proposed trade  
deal with both developed and developing countries. They cover multiple  
avenues for multinational pharmaceutical companies to lengthen their  
monopolies by extending patents on medicines through a common  
pharmaceutical industry practice known as 'evergreening.' This keeps  
medicine prices high for longer by blocking competition from generics.

The negotiations have entered a critical stage, where governments are being  
urged to close the deal before the end of the year. After months of facing  
opposition to their initial proposal, the US government may now be  
proposing differential treatment on the intellectual property chapter,  
whereby several of the poorest countries in the negotiations have a  
temporary and limited exemption from some of the provisions. However, this  
would still leave these countries with intellectual property provisions  
that far exceed what is required under international trade rules, which  
themselves are already choking off the supply of affordable medicines in  
developing countries. Furthermore, millions of poor people in other TPP  
countries will be left with unaffordable prices for the medicines they  
need.

'Nobody should be fooled by this latest US proposal, which purports to  
lessen the negative impact this trade deal will have on access to medicines  
in the poorest countries in the negotiations,' said Judit Rius, manager of  
MSF's Access Campaign in the US. 'This is still a terrible deal that will  
continue to delay the entry of affordable generic medicines that MSF and  
millions of people rely on'

In addition, pharmaceutical companies are lobbying for the US government to  
demand twelve years of so-called 'data exclusivity' on biologic drugs in  
the TPP negotiations, which will further delay the entry of more affordable  
versions of these medicines.

'If the US were serious about protecting innovation and access to medicines  
in this agreement, it would not propose stricter levels of intellectual  
property protection', said Rius. 'Stricter intellectual property rules  
limit innovation by creating monopolies that restrict innovative companies  
and researchers from developing new or adapted medical tools. Instead, it  
encourages some pharmaceutical companies to focus their business on  
extending monopolies on existing medicines, rather than developing new  
medicines that could truly respond to the health needs of people.'

Joanna Keenan  
Press Officer  
Medecins Sans Frontieres - Access Campaign  
P: +41 22 849 87 45  
M: +41 79 203 13 02  
E: joanna.keenan[at]geneva.msf.org