Groser sells out on medicines at TPPA Singapore Ministerial - not even for 30 pieces of silver!

‘Forget all the glib promises that the National Government will protect the “fundamentals” of Pharmac and defend of our public health system in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations’ said Professor Jane Kelsey who is monitoring the TPPA trade ministers’ meeting in Bali.

‘Also forget all the plaudits for New Zealand’s strong positions that were revealed in the intellectual property text posted by Wikileaks last month’.

Washington Trade Daily has reported that ministers from all TPPA countries, except one developing country, have dropped their objections to the US-based intellectual property chapter, with some modifications.

That means Australia, New Zealand and Canada have agreed to a ‘very high standards’ text with unspecified transition clauses for developing countries.

‘We assume “high quality” is code for the same position the US was pushing in the leaked chapter on crucial questions of data exclusivity, including on biologics (eg cancer medicines), patent linkage and patent term extensions’, Kelsey said.

‘Groser has sold out, as I always suspected he would. But we also hear that the US has not tabled any significant proposals for agricultural market access. So he has played Judas with our health system, without even 30 pieces of silver in return.’

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