Dataset Information

CETA and pharmaceuticals: impact of the trade agreement between Europe and Canada on the costs of prescription drugs.

ABSTRACT: On a per capita basis, Canadian drug costs are already the second highest in the world after the United States and are among the fastest rising in the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union (EU) and Canada will further exacerbate the rise in costs by: ?Committing Canada to creating a new system of patent term restoration thereby delaying entry of generic medicines by up to two years; Locking in Canada's current term of data protection, and creating barriers for future governments wanting to reverse it; ?Implementing a new right of appeal under the patent linkage system that will create further delays for the entry of generics.CETA will only affect intellectual property rights in Canada-not the EU. This analysis estimates that CETA's provisions will increase Canadian drug costs by between 6.2% and 12.9% starting in 2023. The Canadian government committed to compensating provinces for the rise in costs for their public drug plans. Importantly, this means that people paying out-of-pocket for their drugs or receiving them through private insurance, will be charged twice: once through higher drug costs and once more through their federal taxes.As drug costs continue to grow, there are limited options available for provincial/territorial governments: restrict the choice of medicines in public drug plans; transfer costs to patients who typically are either elderly or sick; or take money from other places in the health system, and threaten the viability of Canada's single payer system. CETA will therefore negatively impact the ability of Canada to offer quality health care.

SUBMITTER: Lexchin J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4108121 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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CETA and pharmaceuticals: impact of the trade agreement between Europe and Canada on the costs of prescription drugs.

Lexchin Joel J Gagnon Marc-André MA

Globalization and health 20140506

On a per capita basis, Canadian drug costs are already the second highest in the world after the United States and are among the fastest rising in the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union (EU) and Canada will further exacerbate the rise in costs by: Committing Canada to creating a new system of patent term restoration thereby delaying entry of generic medicines by up to two years; Locking in Cana ...[more]

PMID: 24885309

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Project description:BackgroundTransparency and accountability are essential components at all stages of the trade negotiation process. This study evaluates the extent to which these principles were upheld in the United States' public consultation process during the negotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), with respect to public comments about the pharmaceutical sector and access to medicines.ResultsThe public consultation process occurred before the start of official negotiations and was overseen by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). It included both written comments and oral testimony about US trade negotiation objectives. Of the written comments that specifically discussed issues relating to pharmaceuticals, the majority were submitted by private individuals, members of the pharmaceutical industry, and civil society organizations. Nearly all comments submitted by non-industry groups indicated that access to medicines was a priority issue in the renegotiated agreement, with specific reference to price affordability. By contrast, more than 50% of submissions received from members or affiliates of the pharmaceutical industry advocated for strengthened pharmaceutical intellectual property rights, greater regulatory data protections, or both. This study reveals mixed outcomes with respect to the level of transparency achieved in the US trade negotiation process. Though input from the public at-large was actively solicited, the extent to which these comments were considered in the content of the final agreement is unclear. A preliminary comparison of the analyzed comments with the USTR's final negotiating objectives and the final text of the USMCA shows that several provisions that were advanced exclusively by the pharmaceutical industry and ultimately adopted in the final agreement were opposed by the majority of non-industry stakeholders.ConclusionsNegotiators could increase public transparency when choosing to advance one competing trade objective over another by actively providing the public with clear rationales for their negotiation positions, as well as details on how public comments are taken into account to form these rationales. Without greater clarity on these aspects, the public consultation process risks appearing to serve as a cursory government mechanism, lacking in accountability and undermining public trust in both the trade negotiation process and its outcomes.

Dataset Information

CETA and pharmaceuticals: impact of the trade agreement between Europe and Canada on the costs of prescription drugs.

Publications

CETA and pharmaceuticals: impact of the trade agreement between Europe and Canada on the costs of prescription drugs.

Similar Datasets

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