KUALA LUMPUR: Six non-governmental organisations (NGO) yesterday express concern over medical related issues which come under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).
They said the United States via the TPPA was demanding strict provision that would reduce access to affordable medicines.
The six associations were the Breast Cancer Welfare Association, National Cancer Society of Malaysia, Malaysia AIDS Council, Malaysian Treatment Access and Advocacy Group, Malaysian Thoracic Society and the Malaysian Mental Health Association.
The group expressed concern, among others, about expensive patent protection, patent linkage that prevented registration of generic medicines, and border measures that could lead to unjustified seizures of generic medicines.
Patented medicines are very expensive because the company holding the patent had the exclusive right to make or import that medicine for a 20-year period, it said in a statement.
It also alleged that the United States was demanding strict border control measures, which enabled TPP governments to seize generic medicines when imported, exported or in transit so long as they look confusingly similar to trademarked goods.
It said this economic and social burden would depend on the government – when medicines are expensive, people will eventually run out of money and turn to government hospitals for treatment. The TPP is an FTA initiative involving nine countries — Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. — Bernama