TTIP locking Europe and USA into higher drug prices, new report claims

The European Union and the USA risk being locked into higher drug prices and a failed model of pharmaceutical innovation during negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), according to a joint report released today by consumer advocacy groups Health Action International (HAI), the Commons Network and Public Citizen.

As EU and US officials meet in New York for the 15th round of TTIP negotiations, the report warns the EU and USA to resist pressure from pharmaceutical corporations and avoid including an intellectual property (IP) chapter in TTIP. It notes that the negotiations coincide with increased criticism from EU member states on how rules designed under the influence of the corporate lobby underpin a failed model of pharmaceutical innovation in Europe.

Tessel Mellema, policy advisor at Health Action International, said: “We call upon all negotiators in New York not to lock Americans and Europeans into pharmaceutical innovation system that has been failing patients, and price gouging governments, for decades. To commit Europeans to this system indefinitely, in the middle of a public debate on the issue, would undermine the democratic principles of the European Union.”