MSF urges countries not to trade away health

The far-reaching Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) should be a force for improving health outcomes for the more than half a billion people in 12 countries affected by the pact, but instead negotiators are moving towards finalizing a deal that in fact would restrict access to affordable medicines and constrain governments’ ability to protect the health of their citizens, warns Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Afghanistan 2013 © Vivian Lee/MSFMSF staff providing free healthcare and medicine to internally displace people in Kabul.  “Despite more than 18 months of persistent opposition from its trading partners, the U.S. government has refused to back down from its demands for intellectual property (IP) rules designed to impede timely access to affordable generic medicines,” says Stephen Cornish, executive director for MSF in Canada.  “TheU.S.is keen to block developing country governments from any attempt to control abusive patenting or limit drug patent terms to the internationally-agreed 20 years. These efforts are a repudiation of the U.S. government’s own prior commitments to balance commercial pharmaceutical interests with the public health interests of developing country populations.” For more details on the trade deal demands, read MSF’s Issue Brief: Trading Away Health In this 19th round of negotiations, the U.S. may up the ante with a new demand for 12 years of “data exclusivity” protections for biologics, a c...
Source: MSF News - Category: Global & Universal Tags: Access Campaign Frontpage NEWS Source Type: news