John Calvert
The Council of Canadians Kamloops chapter organized a public forum titled “Trans-Pacific Partnership: Implications for healthcare & pharmaceuticals” on September 30 featuring Professor John Calvert.
Chapter activist Anita Strong tells us that about 60 people were in attendance for this discussion.
Kamloops This Week had previously reported, “John Calvert, an associate professor at Simon Fraser University who specializes in public policy, will give a presentation later this month on the TPP and its impact on health care in Kamloops. …Calvert’s research and teaching areas include Canadian public policy that impacts health care, disability issues, the health impacts of international trade agreements like TPP, climate change and occupational health and safety. He has examined the impact of international trade agreements on Canada’s social policies.”
In October 2015, The Globe and Mail reported, “Canada freely ceded drug patent extensions within the new 12-nation TPP, which includes Japan and the U.S., the countries that are home to all of the Big-Pharma firms not based in Europe. …[That’s because] the brand-name giants pushed for extended patent protection not just for traditional drugs but also for the new class of biotech-derived drugs known as biologics. …Biologic drugs are produced using biological processes rather than the chemical synthesis that creates conventional drugs.”
In January of this year, Professor Michael Geist commented, “[The TPP would] lock in CETA’s patent restoration extension even if CETA is never ratified or implemented.” Under CETA, Canada would provide up to an additional two years of patent-like protection for pharmaceuticals, with the aim of providing about 13 years of market exclusivity for eligible pharmaceuticals. CETA could lead to increased drug costs of between $850 million and $1.6 billion annually.
The TPP then provides a monopoly extension of five years as a minimum standard (with a voluntary standard to extend that by another three years) on biologic medicines. Four of Canada’s five top-revenue pharmaceutical products are biologic, with total annual sales of more than $2 billion in 2014.
At a meeting of the House of Commons standing committee on health in April of this year, NDP MP Don Davies asked Abby Hoffman, Assistant Deputy Minister at Health Canada, “Is it fair to say, Ms. Hoffman, that it’s the department’s position that those two trade deals will likely increase the costs of drugs in Canada and we just don’t know how much?” Hoffman replied, “That’s correct.”
The Council of Canadians has been encouraging people to send their comments on the TPP to the parliamentary committee studying the TPP. To send your letter before the October 31 deadline, please click here.
The twelve countries that have signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership have set a deadline of November 2017 to ratify the deal.
