Big Pharma still reeling from TPP but global health advocates not happy either
The drug industry is in a standoff with the White House for now, sticking to its demand for 12 years of market protections for biologics in a deal that only delivered a baseline of five. In a meeting with pharma executives on Thursday, President Barack Obama highlighted that the agreement would deliver an international standard for the drugs where there is none now. But that did little to assuage the industry’s anger over U.S. negotiators inability to push Australia, which dug in its heels against a longer mandatory period.
… What comes next is far from clear. Late last week, one industry source described the strategy moving forward as “formless.” Another acknowledged flatly that “we don’t know what our next steps are right now.”
… The deal has run into powerful headwinds already on the Hill, with key GOP trade advocates like Sen. Orrin Hatch saying he fears the agreement falls “woefully short” and Rep. Paul Ryan citing serious concerns as well.
… Global health advocates, however, say that while the industry didn’t get what it had hoped for, it got protections for drugs that go beyond past trade accords — and they will cost lives. “The monopolist pharmaceutical industry has won a lot with the TPP, at the expense of people’s health,” Burcu Kilic, policy director for Public Citizen’s Global Access to Medicines program, said. “They should stop crying crocodile tears.”
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/prescription-pulse/2015/10/pharmas-next-steps-on-tpp-210674
Big Pharma got less than it wanted, apparently caught by surprise for some reason. They received more protections than in previous trade agreements but less than they were expecting.
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