RCEP could block access to generic drugs: MSF

12 October 2016: Intellectual property provisions in the China-led RCEP regional trade deal could block access to life-saving drugs for millions in Africa and Asia, warns Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) representative Dr Maria Guevara.

 

Dr Guevara writes in the South China Morning Post that the role of generic medicines is critical, with nearly half of the global population rely on low-cost drugs from India and China. Two thirds of all the drugs MSF uses to treat HIV, tuberculosis and malaria are generics.

 

She argues that leaked RCEP texts show that there are proposals to extend pharmaceutical corporations’ patent terms and introduce "the worst form of data monopolies.”

"The enforcement provisions attempt to prevent the flow of generic medicines from producer to patient, thereby providing a blank cheque for abuse,” she writes.