IAS 2013 KUALA LUMPUR COMMUNITY MEMORANDUM ON THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT & ACCESS TO MEDICINES

Source: IAS

1 July 2013

To Francoise Barré-Sinoussi, President of the International AIDS Society

The Malaysian Government will be hosting the next round of negotiations for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement in Kota Kinabalu, from 15 to 25 July. The other negotiating countries are the US, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico and Japan. Provisions in the proposed trade deal could pose serious harm to the availability of affordable generic HIV medicines to people living in these countries. We, the undersigned, declare our opposition to the TPP as it puts the profits of multinational pharmaceutical companies ahead of the people’s right to health.

We are aware that the United States has tabled intellectual property (IP) proposals during previous TPP rounds that would require significant changes to countries’ laws. If adopted, these provisions would restrict generic competition, raise drug prices and make medicines less affordable and less available to people living in TPP countries. HIV & medicines, hepatitis C treatments, cancer medicines, essential medicines, and lifesaving medicines for many chronic diseases are all under threat. Many people in developing countries already lack access to lifesaving medicines, and new trade barriers will further limit their access.

We stand in opposition to any & all proposals that negatively impact access to medicines in the TPP, including:

• DATA EXCLUSIVITY which prevents governments from relying on clinical trial data to register generic versions of medicines even if they are off-patent or after their patents have expired or been revoked. This measure also complicates the issuance of compulsory licenses.

• PATENT TERM ADJUSTMENT/EXTENSIONS that extend the duration of a patent beyond 20 years.

• EXTENSION of PATENT PROTECTION to new uses, methods and forms of known substances. This measure allows the extension of monopolies on these medicines to last a decade or more through minor changes in drug formulation or process.

• PATENT LINKAGE that prevents the registration of generic versions of patented medicines and undermines the early working and research exceptions. This measure can potentially delay the entry of generic medicines even after the expiration or revocation of a patent or when a compulsory license is issued.

• BORDER MEASURES that could deny medicines to patients in other developing countries if custom officials seize generic medicines that are being imported, exported or are in transit.

• IP PROVISIONS that allow multinational pharmaceutical companies in courts to presume any challenged patent valid and that weigh the patent holder’s measure of the  value of the damages.

• INVESTMENT RULES that could allow multinational companies to sue governments over application of domestic health regulations in private international arbitration and which may prevent governments from promoting local manufacturing.

WE CALL ON:

• The GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES to immediately withdraw any and all TRIPS plus provisions in the intellectual property chapter of the TPP, and to immediately cease all other forms of pressure and lobbying against TPP countries.

• NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS OF THE OTHER TPP SIGNATORY COUNTRIES to come together and refuse to accept any further restrictions on production, registration, supply, import or export of generic medicines; to launch Asian- Pacific collaboration on an urgent basis to put in place a sustainable, affordable pipeline of generic medicines for future generations; and to call for an immediate review of TRIPS and its impact on access to medicines in developing and least-developed countries.

• GOVERNMENTS NEGOTIATING THE TPP to immediately end secrecy around the TPP negotiations, make negotiation texts available for public scrutiny and to support through open, transparent and public consultations, assessments of the impact of such negotiations on the right to health and other rights.

• PARLIAMENTARY AND CONSTITUTIONAL BODIES IN TPP NEGOTIATING COUNTRIES to immediately request the TPP negotiating texts; review their impact on the right to health and access to medicines; refuse to endorse or ratify the agreement that would be signed with provisions that undermine their people’s right to access affordable treatment; and review TPP countries’ laws including patent and medicine regulatory laws and policies to ensure all aspects and elements of the Doha Declaration are in these laws.

• CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS, PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV, ALL COMMUNITIES FACING COMMUNICABLE, CHRONIC AND/OR NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES IN TPP SIGNATORY COUNTRIES to join forces to halt any & all trade agreements that restrict access to generic medicines.

We stand in solidarity with all other peoples and movements whose rights to life, health, livelihood, equality, equity, food, environment, knowledge, traditional systems of life and livelihood will also be negatively impacted by these free trade agreements that threaten to widen the gap between the rich and the poor not only between countries but within countries as well.