E-DRUG: MSF: Access to life-saving generic medicines threatened by US trade pact
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PRESS RELEASE
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
Media Contact: Michelle French: 212-763-5765
ACCESS TO LIFE-SAVING GENERIC MEDICINES THREATENED BY US TRADE PACT
Public Health Safeguards Could Erode Under Trans-Pacific Partnership
Agreement
New York, NY -- September 8, 2011
Access to affordable lifesaving medicines will be threatened where they are needed most-in parts of the
developing world -if the U.S. insists on implementing restrictive
intellectual property policies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
trade agreement, the international medical humanitarian organization
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned today.
As the eighth round of closed-door TPP negotiations begins in Chicago this
week, a leaked draft of the U.S. position indicates that the U.S. Trade
Representative (USTR) is demanding aggressive intellectual property
provisions that go beyond what international trade law requires, and is
turning its back on previous commitments to safeguard public health in
trade agreements.
For additional details, please view MSF's TPP Issue Brief
'Our experience around the world shows that MSF's treatment programs - and
our patients' lives - depend on the availability of quality and affordable
generic medicines,' explains Sophie Delaunay, executive director of
MSF-USA. 'What we're seeing here is the U.S. and the pharmaceutical
industry looking to impose some of the most stringent patent protections
we've seen to date, significantly delaying introduction of generic
medicines in the countries that sign up to the TPP and creating a
fundamental contradiction between U.S. trade policy and U.S. commitments
to global health.'
Encompassing nine countries to start (Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia,
New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States), the TPP is
billed as a vehicle for economic integration across the Asia Pacific
region and a template for successive future regional trade agreements. As
such, if hard-line intellectual property policies are included, the TPP
has the potential to greatly diminish access to affordable medicines for
millions of people in developing countries where MSF works and beyond.
The leaked USTR position paper, now available to the public, reveals that
the U.S. is pushing its trade partners, including developing countries, to
effectively lower the bar for granting patents, limit the capacity to
challenge patents, and impose new forms of intellectual property
enforcement - all measures that delay the introduction of more affordable
generic drugs.
Correspondence and discussions between Congress and the USTR indicate that
the U.S. will demand other harsh provisions that effectively delay the
introduction of generic medicines. These could include 'patent
extensions' that extend monopolies beyond 20 years, 'patent linkage, -
which delays regulatory approval of generic drugs, and expanded 'data
exclusivity' terms, which further restrict access to the clinical data
necessary for expedient generic drug approval.
Taken together, these provisions, if adopted, represent a major retreat
from previous U.S. commitments to global health, including the 2007
bipartisan New Trade Policy, in which Congress and the Bush administration
agreed to abide by important public health safeguards in future trade
agreements. These safeguards give governments and patients in developing
countries some relief from the most stringent intellectual property
regulations when urgent public health needs are at stake.
Competition among generic manufacturers, for example, is what brought the
price of the first generation of HIV medicines down by more than 99% over
the last decade, from $10,000 per person per year in 2000 to as low as $60
per person per year today. This dramatic price drop has played a major
role in helping scale up HIV and AIDS treatment to more than six million
people in developing countries.
Stifling generic competition also has implications for the U.S.
government's own foreign aid policies. The U.S. President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) relies predominantly on the purchase of generic
antiretroviral medicines, and has reported significant savings through the
purchase of generic medicines. Vietnam, a TPP participant, is a
PEPFAR-grant recipient.
'MSF urges the U.S. to stop chipping away at hard-won public health
protections, including those enshrined in international law and the 2007
New Trade Policy, and to uphold its previous commitments to support
generic competition and promote access to medicines,' said Judit Rius
Sanjuan, U.S. manager of MSF's Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.
'Policies that restrict competition thwart our ability to improve the
lives of millions with affordable, lifesaving treatments.'
TPP negotiating parties are under no obligation to subject their
negotiating positions to public scrutiny; only the final agreed-upon text
will be made publicly available. MSF believes that regional and bilateral
trade negotiations, including the TPP, should be conducted in an open and
transparent manner that allows for participation by civil society and
other relevant stakeholders, and ensures that public health needs are
given adequate attention.
Media Contact :
Michelle French, Press Officer
Office : 212-763-5765
Mobile : 646-207-0405
Email : michelle.french@newyork.msf.org