U.S. Trade Position Protecting High Drug Prices Blasted By U.N. Agencies
www.huffington, Zach Carter | 1 June 2012

A report issued by the U.N. Development Program and the anti-AIDS UNAIDS detailed a host of drug financing policies and intellectual property standards that inflate the price of medications, and urged governments to reject such terms in trade negotiations. . . .

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American negotiators are also seeking radical new “data exclusivity” provisions that ban any new medical research based on prior data or research that resulted in a patented drug. Public health experts are especially critical of data exclusivity, noting that it violates centuries of standard scientific practice and hampers innovation. . . .

“The Trans-Pacific deal would create harsh new global norms for intellectual property infringement — in some respects above and beyond the already over-the-top regulations in the United States — stifling innovation across the globe and denying countless global citizens access to affordable medicine,” said David Segal, executive director of Demand Progress, an Internet freedom advocacy group.