Big Pharma talks up Trans Pacific Partnership but profits trump patients

Each year of extra monopoly protection would cost Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme hundreds of millions of dollars.

The American business community's spin machine has gone into overdrive as the finish line for the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations come into view. One of the more over-the-top examples of recent hype is an open love letter to the TPP posted on an American industry lobby website just before Valentine's Day.

The love letter, posted on the Global Intellectual Property Centre website, seems at first glance simply harmless (though certainly charmless) hyperbole. But in amongst phrases like "I'd be a fool not to cross the Pacific for you" is a demand that strikes fear into the hearts of those concerned with access to affordable medicines. What the pharmaceutical industry is proposing is that it be provided with12 years of absolute monopoly – seven years longer than the current data protection period in Australia – during which it can charge whatever the market will bear.

Biologic products include many expensive new treatments for cancer and immune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. What the pharmaceutical industry is proposing is to prevent the clinical trial data used to register these products with regulatory agencies like Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration, from being used to register follow-on (competing) products for 12 years.

"Our love is meaningful and can satisfy our biological needs – especially if you guarantee to protect regulatory data for 12 years," says the letter.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/big-pharma-talks-up-trans-pacific-partnership-but-profits-trump-patients-20150416-1mm8ct.html