By Leith van Onselen

Coalition trade minister, Andrew Robb, has moved to quell concerns over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – the proposed regional trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim countries, including Australia – claiming that it will not sell Australia short, while lashing-out at the deal’s opponents. From The Canberra Times:

Mr Robb lashed out at consumer groups and the Greens for spreading misinformation about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, before walking into a meeting with 11 trade counterparts in Sydney on Saturday to finalise the “basic elements” of the deal. “Those who are opposed to this scheme for all sorts of reasons are peddling a lot of misinformation, saying pharmacy costs will go up,” he said on ABC Radio. “This is not the intention or the outcome that will occur with this particular 21st century agreement.” Mr Robb’s words back up assurances by Finance Minister Matthias Cormann this week that the government would not support an outcome that sees medicine costs pushed up.

Unfortunately, the Coalition’s track record is dubious when it comes to safeguarding Australia’s interests in trade agreements.

Under the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA), concluded by the Howard Government, Australia saw both patent and copyright terms extended, which has raised the cost of pharmaceuticals and copyrighted materials.

As noted by Peter Martin, the extension of pharmaceutical patents under the Australia-US FTA, from 14 years to 20 years, has “suppressed the development of a generic drugs industry and cost the government $200 million per year by slowing the entry of cheap generic drugs into the pharmaceutical benefits scheme”. Moreover, “generic manufacturers have missed out on an estimated $2 billion over eight years” whereas “70 per cent of drug patents expire later in Australia than in other countries”.

Moreover, the Australian National University’s Thomas Faunce revealed last week that the US FTA had watered-down the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme’ (PBS) process of reference pricing, which has also raised costs for Australian taxpayers.

As revealed by WikiLeaks, the draft chapter on intellectual property in the TPP includes a “Christmas wishlist” for US pharmaceutical companies, including the proposal to extend patent protection and strengthen monopolies on clinical data. Most worryingly, the US is seeking patents for “new forms” of known substances, as well as on new uses on old medicines. Together, these proposals would lead to “evergreening”, whereby patents can be renewed continuously, forcing-up Australian consumers’ (and taxpayers’) pharmaceutical costs via reduced access to cheaper generic drugs and reduced rights for the Government to regulate medicine prices.

According to consumer advocacy group, Choice, “If the TPP extends patents we’ll be paying higher prices for some medicines over a longer period of time”.

The Greens spokesperson for trade, Peter Whish-Wilson, has raised similar concerns:

“Last night in Senate Estimates, DFAT refused to answer even the most basic questions about what we’re trading away”… “They refused to rule out that new medicines under development, such as cancer drugs and vaccines, would become more expensive in the future as a result of the TPP.”

As has the Australian Medical Association (AMA):

The Association said it was concerned that aspects of the proposed TPP could be used to attack key health policies and measures including the PBS and the cost of medicine, food labelling and tobacco control laws, restrictions on alcohol marketing, the operation of public hospitals and the regulation of environmental hazards… Among the most controversial provisions are investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) procedures that would enable corporations to mount legal action against government policies and laws they felt harmed the value of their investment or future profits… US negotiators are also pushing hard for the TPP to include some of world’s most stringent intellectual property protections that would expand and extend patent monopolies, helping hold drug prices high and delay the introduction of generic medicines onto the market. There are also concerns market access rules in the TPP may be used to restrict government support for public hospitals and other health services by requiring that there be competitive neutrality between such entities and private health providers. A resolution adopted by the AMA Federal Council said international trade agreements had the potential to hamper governments in acting to protect and promote health.

Robb’s empty assurances and labeling of opponents of the TPP as ‘scaremongers’ ignores the very real dangers lurking beneath the deal, which poses great costs to Australia’s consumers, taxpayers, and our world-class health system by placing the interest of US pharmaceutical firms ahead of our own.

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