MSF response on RCEP negotiations in the Philippines
New
Delhi, 8 May 2017 – The Philippines is set to host the 18th round of
the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement’s
negotiations in Manila this week. Negotiators from the ten members of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and six further
countries – India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea
–will meet to hammer out this multilateral trade deal that covers nearly
half of the global population.
Japan
and South Korea are pushing for measures that go beyond what is
required by the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-related
Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), called ‘TRIPS-plus.’ This
would mean extending drug corporations’ patent terms and entrenching new
monopolies in the national drug regulatory system (‘data exclusivity’)
in countries like India, leading to a delay in generic competition,
which translates into high drug prices for people across the world.
Further, the proposed investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provision
in the leaked draft investment chapter and its intersection with other
proposals on IP could potentially undermine governments’ capacity to
implement and execute policies to protect public health and ensure
universal healthcare, of which access to life-saving medicines is an
essential component.
This
round is also likely to see an increased focus by negotiators on
intellectual property (IP) enforcement. The draft RCEP text on ‘IP
enforcement’ omits several procedural guarantees, safeguards and
protections available under WTO trade rules and are a blank cheque for
abuse, with numerous provisions that will prevent the flow of generic
medicines from producer to patient. As an important safeguard measure,
MSF has appealed to negotiators to consider the deletion of patents and
test data from the entire scope of the enforcement section.
MSF response:
“In
the course of our medical work, we have seen the impact of IP barriers
in the regulatory system blocking access to low cost generic medicines.
Data exclusivity prevents manufacturers from registering more affordable
generic formulations and in some cases, generic versions of drugs like
those to treat hepatitis C have been pulled off the market, despite not
being patented in a country.
As
MSF, we are appealing to Japan and South Korea to withdraw their
harmful proposals which will restrict people’s access to affordable
generic medicines. The negotiators must protect public health safeguards
that enable developing countries like India to keep supplying
life-saving affordable medicines needed to treat millions of people
worldwide.”
Jessica Burry, HIV/HCV Pharmacist, MSF Access Campaign
“Trade
negotiators from RCEP countries will be thrashing out modalities of
harmful investor-state provisions in the upcoming rounds of RCEP that
will increase the risk of countries like India being sued by
pharmaceutical corporations for millions of dollars in secret tribunals –
outside of domestic courts.
Already,
Swiss corporations like Novartis have threatened to sue Colombia using
such measures to pressure the government to drop its health minister’s
proposal to allow a supply of more affordable generic versions of a key
leukemia drug – imatinib - into the country. We are worried that
accepting retrograde provisions in this trade deal will have a chilling
effect on the Indian government’s ability to use measures including the
rejection of ever greening patent claims and price regulation to make
treatment affordable for people who need it.”
Leena Menghaney, Head-South Asia, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Access Campaign
Editor’s Note:
In
2016, while the Government of Colombia was taking measures to address
the exorbitant prices of cancer medicines in the country, Colombia
considered issuing a compulsory license to open up generic competition
on the chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) drug imatinib. In response, the
Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Novartis threatened to sue Colombia’s
government using the ISDS mechanism contained in the
Colombia-Switzerland Bilateral Investment Treaty. Imatinib is patented
and marketed by Novartis as Glivec or Gleevec in many countries and it
is one of its multibillion-dollar products.
RCEP Investment Chapter Presents a Grave Threat to Access to Medicines
Briefing: Trading Away Health - The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
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