Professor Jane Kelsey says New Zealand's health system is being "held ransom".

The New Zealand health system could be "crippled" by the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, analysts say documents posted online by whistleblower group Wikileaks show.

Wikileaks on Thursday published on its website what is said to be the leaked healthcare annex to the draft "transparency" chapter of the deal, along with each country's position.

The document seeks to regulate state schemes for medicines and medical devices, forcing healthcare authorities to give big pharmaceutical companies more information about national decisions on public access to medicine.

The healthcare annex would also grant corporations greater powers to challenge decisions perceived as harmful to their interests.

Wikileaks analysts said the leaked annex "appears to be designed to cripple New Zealand's strong public healthcare programme and to inhibit the adoption of similar programmes in developing countries".

Pharmac is New Zealand's Crown agency which works with District Health Boards to decide which medical products are subsidised for the public.

Auckland University Professor Jane Kelsey, a long-time critic of the TPP, said Pharmac was the "most exposed" of any programme in a negotiating country.

Trade Minister Tim Groser had repeatedly assured New Zealanders that Pharmac was not up for negotiation in the TPP, Kelsey said.

In 2011, Groser returned from the APEC annual summit where the TPP had been discussed, and said New Zealand had laid down a position which said the public health system was not up for negotiation or part of any trade negotiation.

Pharmac was "an incredibly valuable institution that provides high quality medicines to New Zealanders at very very highly subsidised reasonable prices."

The fundamentals of that model were not up for negotiation, Groser said in 2011.

Prime Minister John Key on Thursday cautioned against taking the leak seriously as he said it reflected one person's view and wasn't necessarily something the Government would sign up to.

"We won't sign anything that undercuts Pharmac in a way that would have a dramatic impact," Key said.

New Zealanders paid $5 for prescriptions which had a Pharmac subsidy and this would continue to be the case irrespective of the nature of the TPP.

"Whatever happens as a result of the TPP New Zealanders are going to carry on paying $5 for their prescriptions."

Key said whether New Zealand signed the deal would depend if the benefits outweighed the costs, and gaining access to the US and Japanese markets was worth a lot to exporters.

Kelsey said the real motivation behind the documents was for changes in Pharmac to reduce its effectivess as a precedent for other countries.

"Pharmac's regime for identifying which medicines and medical devices are subsidised and for how much has proved highly successful in making medicines affordable in New Zealand, saving District Health Boards more than $5 billion over the past decade, according to Pharmac's own calculations."

The United State pharmaceutical industry had its sights on Pharmac, Kelsey said.

"New Zealanders' health and our taxpayer dollars are being held ransom in a much bigger game."

The annex set out a series of principles and procedures by which agencies like Pharmac must operate.

They were designed to give the pharmaceutical industry more influence over its decisions and break down the procedures and budgetary cap that made Pharmac so effective.

There were numerous ways the United States and big pharmaceutical companies could force New Zealand to make changes that would seriously undermine Pharmac's effectiveness and workability, Kelsey said.

That included restricting cheaper generic medicines, and refusing to bring the TPP into force until Pharmac's regulations met the requirements of the leaked annex.

PHARMAC 'SEEN AS A THREAT'

Green Party co-leader James Shaw said the latest Wikileaks documents proved the TPP was a threat to Pharmac, and New Zealanders access to affordable medicine.

The procedures in the leaked documents were designed to let the pharmaceutical industry challenge Pharmac's decision-making process, rendering Pharmac less effective at saving money, Shaw said.

"Pharmac is seen by United States-based pharmaceutical companies as a threat."

"The way Pharmac operates with its buying power assists New Zealanders get affordable access to medicines.

"The Government should not sign a trade deal that pushes up the price of medicine for New Zealanders in order to give new rights to US pharmaceutical companies."

Labour's acting health spokesman David Clark said New Zealanders would pay more for health if changes proposed in the Wikileaks documents came into effect.

"The health sector is already underfunded. Pharmac is a bright light in the sector, saving New Zealanders millions by negotiating cheaper medicines.

"The review processes revealed in the documents are akin to requiring Pharmac to provide secretarial services to international drug companies who want to mount legal disputes against it."

The Prime Minister needed to reassure New Zealanders, Clark said.

"We are a trading nation, so we need strong trade agreements that protect our sovereign interests."

MEMBER'S BILL

NZ First trade spokesman Fletcher Tabuteau feared Pharmac's buying power and cost savings would be in jeopardy under the TPP.

"Leaked information shows the drug giants will gain exclusive rights to look at Pharmac decision making, and even sit in on meetings.

"The latest leak says Pharmac decisions could trigger lawsuits against the Government by the big drug companies."

He called on the Government to reassure New Zealanders that Pharmac would not be "clobbered" by the big drug manufacturers.

Tabuteau's Bill, Fighting Foreign Corporate Control, which has been drawn from the ballot, would prohibit the Government entering international agreements that allowed corporations to sue New Zealand.

The TPP is being negotiated in secret between the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Peru, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore and Vietnam.

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