Aid group urges countries not to trade away health as TPP negotiations intensify

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, warned humanitarian aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

“Despite more than 18 months of persistent opposition from its trading partners, the US government has refused to back down from its demands for intellectual property (IP) rules designed to impede timely access to affordable generic medicines,” said Leena Menghaney, MSF Access Campaign manager, who is attending the negotiations, taking place in Brunei August 23-30. “The USA 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 US government’s own prior commitments to balance commercial pharmaceutical interests with the public health interests of developing country population,” she added.

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