VietNamNet Bridge – If the US proposal on the long drug protection duration is approved by TPP member countries, this would badly affect the Vietnamese drug manufacturing and trade.

The last negotiation round in 2013 for the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) finished in Singapore in mid-December with no considerable progress made.

The 12 member countries still disagree in many issues, including the ones related to the drug manufacturing and trade.

AFP quoted its sources as saying that the US wants a long 12-year protection for biological drugs, i.e. the drugs developed from plant and animal tissues, not from chemicals, used to treat some diseases such as cancer or diabetes.

In the US, patent drugs are protected for five years.

The US said that the rule, if approved, would help encourage pharmacies’ research and development, because it allows them to have more opportunities and time to cover the investment capital.

Vice President of International Affairs at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Jay Taylor said it takes pharmacies 10-13 years on average and more than $1 billion to develop a new therapy, while the projects do not always succeed.

He emphasized that the copyright protection is very necessary to encourage the development of new drugs, and that he does not think the copyright protection would hinder the people’s right for drug access.

However, it is obvious that the long protection duration will be a big challenge for the poor countries including Vietnam. The countries have been relying on generic drugs, the products that are comparable to the reference products in formula but much cheaper than reference products.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has warned that if the suggested long protection duration is approved, the lives of millions of people relying on affordable generics would be badly affected, because they would have to spend much more money on drugs.

A report by the World Health Organization showed that 1/3 of the developing countries’ population cannot access the drugs needed for regular demands.

According to Avaaz, a social organization, 62 percent of people in the US, 63 percent in Australia, 70 percent in New Zealand and 75 percent in Chile have voiced their protest against the limitations in the access to generics through the patent protection rule.

Of course, Vietnam, as a developing country, does not feel happy about this. Domestic pharmacy firms’ production and trade would be serious influenced. Especially, they would meet big difficulties in obtaining the licenses to make generics.

Analysts have also warned that import drugs would flow to Vietnam as the demand in the market has been increasing rapidly, while Vietnam has to open its doors more widely to foreign drugs and foreign investment in the industry.

It is highly possible that Vietnam would witness the drug prices escalate after it joins TPP, while the benefits are unclear, and that foreign made drugs may dominate the market.

According to Business Monitor International, a consultancy firm, Vietnam ranks the 13th among the 175 countries which have the fastest growth in the spending on medicine.

Meanwhile, according to Pacific Bridge Medical, Vietnam is among the fastest growing markets in Asia. In 2012, the Vietnamese drug got the turnover of $3 billion, or 1/3 of India’s.

Thanh Mai