Most Read
Most Commented
Read more like this
mk-logo
News
TPPA leak shows poor nations may be deprived of key medication
Published:  Oct 10, 2015 12:42 PM
Updated: 7:27 AM

A purportedly leaked Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) chapter has revealed that negotiators have abandoned a previous proposal of giving preferential treatment to developing countries until they reach high-income status.

Instead, some countries are given a transition period that varies from country-by-country, with wealthier countries not getting such leniencies at all.

However, the US-based NGO Public Citizen argued that the transition periods are too short, and could deprive poorer countries of life-saving medication.

“The periods are too short to expect that countries will be substantially more able to absorb the rules’ impact than they are today.

“There is little reason to believe these rules would actually be good for the people residing in TPP countries, even after the transition periods.

“Indeed, even in US, where similar rules are in place, the high prices of medicines - bolstered by TPP-style monopolistic protections - have led to treatment rationing, prescriptions going unfilled, and severe budgetary constraints,” said the group in an analysis report.

The report was released last night on the whistleblower site Wikileaks, alongside the purported final draft of the TPPA’s controversial chapter on intellectual property, dated Oct 5.

It is one of 30 chapters that make up the TPPA.

Although there will be no further negotiations, the text is still to be ‘scrubbed’ by lawyers before official release, according to Wikileaks.

Transition period ranges from three to 10 years

Public Citizen’s report pertains to the chapter’s provisions related to drug patents and data exclusivity, which could keep cheaper, generic versions of medicines out of the market in a bid to incentivise the research on new drugs.

The provisions allow for transition periods ranging from three to 10 years for countries to implement various rules contained in TPPA’s intellectual property chapter.

For example, Malaysia has five years starting from the day TPPA comes into force to implement TPPA provisions related to data exclusivity for biologics.

It also has a four-and-half year transition period for provisions related to patent term adjustment and patent linkage.

On the other hand, in the area of data exclusivity for biologics, Peru and Vietnam enjoy a 10-year transition period as well as other leniencies.

The US, Singapore, Australia, Canada, and Japan are among several countries that will implement TPPA’s intellectual property provisions related to pharmaceuticals in full when it comes into force.

According to Public Citizen, the move to have transition periods for various countries was only one of two proposals on the table.

In the leaked May 16, 2014 draft of the intellectual property chapter, the group said, the alternative proposal was that some countries are not required to follow certain rules spelled out in the chapter.

This is until the countries have reached a certain level of development, as defined by economic indicators.

When the final negotiating text of the chapter was leaked last night however, it became clear that this approach was abandoned in favour of having transition periods.

“Transitions to implementing pharmaceutical (intellectual property) rules seem to have been negotiated bilaterally, with US taking a divide-and-conquer approach,” said Public Citizen.

The official and final TPPA text is expected to be made public by early-November, and put to Parliament for a vote by early-January.

If approved by Parliament, Malaysia would have two years to ratify TPPA into its domestic law, not including the transition periods.

ADS