TPP Critics Say U.S. Shift on Drug Pricing Revealed in Leaked Trade Document will Help Big Pharma at Consumers’ Expense

Friday, June 12, 2015
(photo: Farrall/Getty Images)

Critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have raised yet another concern with the far-reaching agreement being negotiated among the United States and 11 other nations: drug prices.

 

The TPP talks include the issue of whether the participating governments should open the process by which reimbursement rates for drugs and medical devices are established. Opening it up would benefit Big Pharma in the U.S. because many other governments curtail their reimbursement rates. Thus, drug makers have lobbied the Obama administration to include this issue in the TPP.

 

But generic drug manufacturers as well as public health professionals oppose this TPP provision because, they say, it will result in higher drug prices and make it harder for patients to receive the treatments they need.

 

“It was very clear to everyone except the U.S. that the initial proposal wasn’t about transparency. It was about getting market access for the pharmaceutical industry by giving them greater access to and influence over decision-making processes around pricing and reimbursement,” Deborah Gleeson, a lecturer at the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University in Australia, told The New York Times. And even though the section, known as the transparency annex, has been toned down, she said, “I think it’s a shame that the annex is still being considered at all for the TPP.”

 

Judit Rius Sanjuan, a lawyer at Doctors Without Borders, says the free trade deal “will increase the cost of medicines worldwide, starting with the 12 countries that are negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”

 

The pharmaceutical industry has been lobbying heavily since 2009 to have language favorable to drug companies in the TPP, according to the Sunlight Foundation. It would seem that those efforts have paid off.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

To Learn More:

U.S. Shifts Stance on Drug Pricing in Pacific Trade Pact Talks, Document Reveals (by Jonathan Weisman, New York Times)

‘Profits over Public Health’: Secret TPP Healthcare Annex Published by WikiLeaks (RT)

TPP Transparency for Healthcare Annex (WikiLeaks)

How Big Pharma (and Others) Began Lobbying on the Trans-Pacific Partnership before You Ever Heard of It (by Lee Drutman, Sunlight Foundation)

WikiLeaks Calls for $100,000 Reward for Unpublished 26 Chapters of Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Steve Straehley, AllGov)

Fast Track Trade Bill: When Obama and Republicans Agree…Watch Out (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Danny Biederman, AllGov)

Comments

David E.H. Smith 9 years ago
TPP, TTIP, CETA & Global Treaties/'Arrangements’; There is just TOO much money involved with Canada’s, et al, health care system & pharmaceuticals for Corporate America to stay away from. Exacerbate with long waits for & more designer government interference, et al, & HMOs look better & better. But, how many ‘Preferred’ Shares are being Offered to You for a Privately Insured & Sue Only Hospital, Long Term, et al, Care? Just a ‘Promise’ to Keep your Taxes Down by Charging Huge User Fees? Are TPP & Global Corporate Treaties/’Arrangements more about Tort ‘Abolishment’ than Tort ‘Reform’? Is the secrecy surrounding the TPP & the flurry of Global Treaties/'Arrangements' greater, or, less than the secrecy at the time of The Residential Schools abuses & ‘Cultural Genocide’; Corporate Canada & The Canadian Establishment Still Resolute & Without any Remorse? As Pres. G.H. Bush said in the Aftermath of the NAFTA ‘dispute resolution’; ‘Well, you should have known…’ Should Congressmen & Parliamentarians Have to Sully Their ‘Beliefs’ & Sales Pitches with ‘Sordid’ Facts that Come from Actually Reading & Understanding Global Treaties/’Arrangements’? Should They be able to ‘Sully’ Others, or, Should They Only be able to Give Us the Facts so ‘We’ The People can Draw our Own Conclusions? 2 Republican Senators Admit that They Have read the TPP. No Canadian Admissions. Congress; Deluded, or, Deluding; 'IGNORAMUS et IGNORABIMUS' (I do not know & I will Not Know)? Corporations Cut Costs & Dramatically Increase flat Profits by Not Suing each Other & by Suing the Little Guy (via ‘your’ Gov’t.) who’s ‘Guilty’ even Prior to Tribunals & All of the Time. Teaching the Gordon Gekkos’ of Wall St., Congress, et al, some Humility & Integrity via Quantifying? ‘Obama’s’ (Corporate America’s) Self-Exploding SECRECY. If Not 'Treason', then, there are very compelling arguments for concluding that the corporations, whether they be, foreign, domestic, &/or, a blend, that do not respect the 'lesser' jurisdictions, ie. individual provinces, territories, &/or, states, or, municipalities, are not good corporate citizens of the host countries & thus, can be treated as 'persona non grata'. Global Treaties/’Arrangements’ with their Secret ‘Death-Star-Chamber’ Tribunals that The Global (non BRICS) Corporate Economy is in the Process of Secretly Passing will Finally Legitimize its Ability to secretly move money around, ie. ‘launder’ without Fear of Legal/government Regulation. It’s their Own Jurisdiction & they Insist that you Pay for & Not them. Will TPP be Okay if ‘US’ corporations can Prove that they Won't Benefit from Partnerships that Try to Disguise that Corporate USA is Circumventing Other ‘Lesser’ Jurisdictions (State/Municipal)? ie. Corporations Need Proof of Non Circumvention of 'Lesser' Jurisdictions, or else, 'Non Good Corporate Citizens', &/or, 'Persona Non Grata' What is Governors’ Rationale for not Defending Taxpayers; States Colluding with Feds? Corporate America’s Last Chance to Legitimize their Fleecing the Little Guy (95% - 99% of U.S.) Before Tanking the Global (non BRICS) Economy? Exploitable ‘Vulnerabilities’, Holes & Back Doors to Close. 2 Republican Senators Admit that They Have read the TPP. Should Congressmen & Parliamentarians Have to Sully Their ‘Beliefs’ & Sales Pitches with ‘Sordid’ Facts that Come from Actually Reading & Understanding Global Treaties/’Arrangements’? Congress; Deluded, or, Deluding; 'IGNORAMUS et IGNORABIMUS' (I do not know & I will Not Know)? Can ‘your’ Federal Representatives Willingly Answer ‘your’ Questions below If They haven’t Read the TPP & other Global Treaties? All You have to do is Ask them ‘For Your Record’ & then Share Their Inability with Others. Don’t Forget to Demand Your Money Back for ‘Supplementing’ Fed Rep’s Wages & Future Considerations at Incompetency Tribunals. How many ‘Preferred’ Shares are You Selling Your Right to Sue The Global Corporate Economy for? Global Treaties; Corp.’ U.S.’ Need to Fast Track TPP & Global Treaties. TPP & Global Treaties part of corp. US's attempt to Increase $17+ Trillion Debt 'Earning$' & to Legitimize Hidden Earning$ in Untouchable Foreign Banks. Time to REPATRIATE 'Earnings'; NO FOREIGN Accountants, Banks, Services, etc. NO Trickle Down from Hiding ‘Earnings’ in Secret Off-Shore Accounts. Global Treaties Not about How Much Trade, but, How to & Who to Trade with to 'Undermine' AIIB. Shifting Costs to harmless Non Shareholders to Inflate ‘Profits & Dividends’. Is it Time to Cool off the 'Stockbrokers' again; Buy Gold? 'Schadenfreude' & the Public; Too 'Unenlightened' to Figure out 'The Global Sleight of Mind' Illusion. - David 'Copper' Smith Will Individual States Jump at Opportunity to: Refuse, or, 'Over Charge' Business Licenses, Raise Targeting State Taxes, 'Road' Taxes, etc. to Recoup Global Treaties' Suits (plus Earn Lucrative 'Punitive Damages') from Non Good Corporate Citizens (non-Compliant of State laws), Associated/Support Corps., Securities Exchanges, et al? But, Do YOU know the various different ways to Make the leaders of TPP, Shareholders, et al, 'Persona non Grata'; Shareholders' Meetings I.D. Toxic Neighbors, In-laws, et al? Corporate Canada’s, via PM Harper, Perilous Deprivation of TPP, C-CIT, CETA, et al, Signatories of Due Diligence Info (The WAD Accord/Compensation), May Hurt Corp.Can & Shareholders More than the Rest (95% - 99%) of citizens of Canada, US, EU, Trans Pacific nations, or, may not… But, If Not PUTIN; 'The WHITE KNIGHT', then Who Do YOU Want to Bankroll the Saving of the harmless NON shareholders of the World from Fast Tracking TPP's, CETA's (TTIP) Secret 'Death-Star-Chamber' Tribunal Penalties? Will Iran, China, the Muslim World, et al, Support Putin in Suits? How about Warren Buffett, &/or, the 'coveted' Hong Kong investor, et al? *** FULL Articles, see; davidehsmith.wordpress.com *** Please consider sharing the enclosed information & questions with 10 friends who will share it with 10 others...

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