NDP Trade Critic Don Davies issued a statement today “calling on the Conservative government to remove patent reform from the negotiations of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union.” The statement comes just 10 days after B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix similarly called on Premier Christy Clark “to press Prime Minister Stephen Harper to drop the pharmaceutical provisions” in CETA. These new federal and provincial demands, which the Council of Canadians fully supports, follow news that the drug patent issue has become “too explosive” for Canadian and EU negotiators to handle, and “will be decided by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet during 11th-hour talks expected at the end of this year,” according to Postmedia. The issue is among the reasons why Liberal Trade Critic Wayne Easter says “we need to do a comprehensive review of CETA and tie in TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), do hearings across the country, where people live and work. Not just in Ottawa.” TAKE PATENTS OUT OF CETA: NDP “Changing the patent regime for pharmaceuticals is a complicated issue with deep consequences for Canadians, provincial healthcare programs, and Canadian employers,” said Davies, MP for Vancouver-Kingsway, in a statement released today. “Studies project the patent extensions proposed by the EU could raise Canadians’ drug costs by $2.8 billion a year,” he continued, saying one in four Canadians cannot afford to fill out their prescriptions. In The CETA Deception, a new Council of Canadians report debunking the Harper government’s myths about its EU trade deal, I explain some of the reasons why Canadians pay more for their drugs than people in other countries, and the policy proposals out there to reduce those costs. Signing over more intellectual property rights to brand name pharma companies based in the EU or U.S. is not one of them. We recommended that: Canada should refuse to negotiate intellectual property rights chapters within its trade agreements. These discussions are better held at more open, international bodies such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations, or even the World Trade Organization. Any changes to Canadian drug policy should be based on domestic policy considerations and domestic preferences, not because of pressure from trading partners. To cut drug costs, the Harper government should introduce a mandatory national pharmacare program and reform how the Patented Medicines Pricing Review Board (PMPRB) determines drug prices. The NDP’s Davies said today, “The CETA forum, or any other trade agreement, is not the appropriate place for this debate to take place. Patent legislation and prescription medicine costs are stand-alone issues that need to be fully studied and debated in public, not behind closed doors in trade policy talks, and not traded off as a bargaining chip in these negotiations. “The changes brought in by CETA will alter parts of the Canadian economy — and not just health care. We need to more transparency and more oversight into how this deal will affect our economy and our workers.” On August 14, a B.C. NDP release explained that, “Prescription drugs represent the second leading healthcare cost in Canada after hospitals.” The party cites a Canadian Institute for Health Information report which claims that drug costs have risen an average of 8.6 per cent annually over the past 27 years. These costs, the CIHI notes, “are primarily influenced not by our aging population, but rather by what drugs are prescribed and what price individuals and plans pay for them,” says the B.C. NDP. “Countries such as New Zealand have shown that policies giving priority to generics can lead to much lower rates of growth in costs and to expanded coverage,” said Dix, who has questioned Premier Clark on CETA several times in the provincial legislature. “In contrast to New Zealand, which has a similar population base, B.C. pays 45 per cent more for statins and 79 per cent more for ACE inhibitors. “By stopping the pharmaceutical provisions of CETA, promoting best practices in prescribing, expanding access to generic drugs and protecting consumers against the rising cost of brand name drugs we can free up resources to invest in primary care, disease prevention and home support.” DRUGS DIVIDING THE CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS Even Conservative MPs from the Toronto area, where a number of generic drug companies operate, are worried about the drug policy changes, according to an Ipolitics.ca article on August 8. MP Bernard Trottier was part of a Toronto Conservative caucus briefing from Trade Minister Ed Fast on the issue. Trottier told Ipolitics that, “I know that we’re going to have a made-in-Canada solution,” and that, “I know that there’s been some mention that we’re just going to adopt the European position wholeheartedly — and obviously we’re not going to do that.” According to Canada’s lead CETA negotiator, Steve Verheul, speaking to Postmedia, “We have not responded to those (the EU’s) demands, and clearly we’ve been indicating to the European Union that these are highly divisive issues within Canada.” Divisive and counter-productive to provincial efforts to curb the rising price of drugs by experimenting with bulk generic drug purchasing. CETA would make such a program, or a more ideal national pharmacare plan down the road, vulnerable to investment challenges by Big Pharma. The agreement could also scuttle proposed reforms to Canada’s Access to Medicine Regime that would make it easier for Canadian generic drug firms to export cheap HIV/AIDS and other important but often expensive medication to poorer countries. TAKE ACTION – SAY NO TO THE EU’S UNFAIR DRUG DEMANDS You can help decide that issue by voicing your opposition to any drug policy changes in CETA. Send a letter to Prime Minister Harper from the Canadian Health Coalition website demanding that the federal government fully protect health care in the CETA negotiations by not agreeing to the EU’s pharmaceutical demands and by carving out health services and health insurance from Canada’s investment commitments. Simply click here and use the form provided by the coalition to send your letter today.
