Trans-Pacific Partnership Will Not Help Developing Countries: Doctors Without Borders

The United States and 11 other countries have finally reached consensus on the Trans-Pacific Partnership after nearly eight years of negotiations. The partnership is seen as one of the largest trade deals in a generation that'll involve nearly half the world's GDP.

The sprawling deal would affect a variety of issues, including tariffs, labor rights, and international investment. However, the deal's most controversial provisions are the ones limiting competition in the pharmaceutical industry.

Doctors Without Borders say that "The TPP will still go down in history as the worst trade agreement for access to medicines in developing countries."

The final text of the agreement won't be available for at least another month. The partnership will drive up costs for some of the most expensive drugs on the market in the poorest countries

One of the main sticking points in the negotiations had to do with data protection for biologic drugs.

Biologics are treatments made from biological sources. As the Brookings Institution explains, biologics are much more structurally complex than regular "small-molecule drugs." Also they are more difficult and expensive to make, costing on average 22 times more than nonbiologic drugs.



Source-Medindia