TPP the worst agreement ever for public health?
As Canada hosts a round of secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade talks, Stephen Cornish from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has published an article in the Ottawa Citizen titled 'The TPP could be a blow to public health'.
Cornish claims that the intellectual property provisions in the negotiations could make the TPP the "worst agreement ever for public health", and argues that pharmaceutical companies often exploit these flawed IP systems by re-patenting old drugs, keeping prices artificially high. This, he argues, costs developed nations billions of dollars each year - but for developing countries, he says "the costs are measured in lives lost."
8/07/2014