Consequences of the trans-Pacific free trade agreement for access to medicines

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) under negotiation between Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. The United States seeks to eventually apply the Trans-Pacific FTA's terms to the entire Asia-Pacific region – roughly half the world's population. Recently, President Obama called the Trans-Pacific FTA “a real model, not only for the region but for the world.” Unfortunately the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has proposed measures harmful to access to medicines in several chapters of the Trans-Pacific FTA that have not been seen before in U.S. trade pacts. The negotiations are closed to the public and the text is secret. Nevertheless, leaked texts have revealed U.S. demands that would significantly expand pharmaceutical patenting and lower patentability criteria, lengthen pharmaceutical monopolies and eliminate safeguards against patent abuse. New measures also challenge government purchasing and formularies. This paper analyzes in detail the changes the US proposal would require of negotiating countries' patent laws, and the risks these changes would pose for access to medicines. The U.S.-proposed terms would also constrain potential and emerging sources of supply such as Vietnam and Malaysia. Applied regionally, the Trans-Pacific FTA could limit the economies of scale necessary for the generics industry to keep prices low. These risks combined make the Trans-Pacific FTA especially dangerous for generic competition and access to medicines in the Asia-Pacific region. This paper proposes alternatives for a trans-Pacific partnership that supports, rather than endangers, public health.