With protections set to lapse on advanced drugs, U.S. presses strict rules overseas

[cali]

This article takes a pro big pharma stance. U.S. pharmaceutical company profits are enormous. I'm posting this because it demonstrates how hard the administration is fighting for the industry.

Here's a piece about profits:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/04/08/1835991/big-pharma-billion-profits/



Stung by overseas patent rulings that could undercut U.S. companies, the Obama administration is trying to expand protection for the makers of the world’s most advanced medicine through trade rules that critics argue could lead to higher global drug prices.

The effort has sparked an intense debate between pharmaceutical firms looking to protect costly research investments and fund the next generation of drug development, and patient advocates and others who worry that a strict application of U.S. rules around the world could keep prices out of reach particularly for patients in developing countries

The issue has injected a moral dimension into negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12-nation pact that would apply similar rules to developing nations, such as Vietnam, which are struggling worldwide to provide access to advanced medicines, and sophisticated industrial countries such as Japan. For the U.S., the economic stakes are direct, and show how U.S. officials hope to use the TPP to shape the landscape for industries considered central to the U.S.’s economic future. Along with pharmaceuticals, U.S. negotiators are pressing hard to set standards that would give logistics and consulting firms, cloud computing and telecommunications businesses and other leading edge companies freer rein in the 11 other TPP nations — and globally if those standards take root.

In the case of biotechnology, regulations are not even clearly settled in the U.S. It was only under the recent Affordable Care Act, for example, that the U.S. agreed to allow generic alternatives for the sophisticated and costly-to-develop drugs that are considered among the most promising ways to attack cancer and other chronic diseases.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/with-protections-set-to-lapse-on-advanced-drugs-us-presses-strict-rules-overseas/2014/03/13/68b24258-83af-11e3-8099-9181471f7aaf_story.html

[jsr]

1. A good example of what's going on behind the scenes