<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<o:p class=""></o:p></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Media Contact:<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Joana Casas, Program Communications Manager<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">(212) 806-1602; <a href="mailto:joana.casas@amfar.org" style="color: purple;" class="">joana.casas@amfar.org</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">New amfAR Report Warns of Trade Agreement’s Potentially Damaging Effects on<o:p class=""></o:p></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Global Public Health<o:p class=""></o:p></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><i class=""> </i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><i class="">Trans-Pacific Partnership Could Limit Access to Life-Saving Treatment in Developing Countries<o:p class=""></o:p></i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">NEW YORK, May 8, 2015 – The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement currently being negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim countries, threatens the future availability of affordable generic medicines and could undermine the global HIV response in developing countries, according to a new report released today by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. By expanding intellectual property (IP) protections for existing pharmaceutical products beyond what is required by current international standards, the report warns, the TPP could greatly delay the entrance of generic medicines into the marketplace and keep drug prices high for those who can least afford them.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">The dozen countries negotiating the TPP represent nearly 40 percent of the world’s GDP: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. If passed, the TPP would become one of the largest free trade agreements in history. <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">“While we recognize the importance of intellectual property protection in spurring innovation and incentivizing investment, the Trans Pacific Partnership includes proposed provisions that go above and beyond what is required by international law and show a disregard for public health,” said amfAR Chief Executive Officer Kevin Robert Frost. “If the TPP moves forward, it will set a dangerous global precedent and put lifesaving drugs beyond the reach of millions of people with HIV/AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis and hepatitis C.” <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">The new amfAR brief, “Trans-Pacific Partnership: Curbing Access to Medicines Now and in the Future,” strongly opposes the aggressive IP provisions of the TPP that could lead to unnecessary loss of life.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">TPP negotiations have been conducted in secret, but leaked texts of the draft agreement reveal that the U.S. is proposing several provisions indicating its embrace of aggressive IP protections that go beyond those established by the World Trade Organization’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Through a provision on patent term extensions, for example, the TPP would make it easier for pharmaceutical companies to demand longer patent extensions and further delay the entrance of generic competition. It could also undermine the entrance of generic biologics—medical commodities developed through biological methods rather than synthetic chemical processes—into the market, including future vaccines. And it would allow the re-patenting of older drugs with minor modifications.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Generic medicines have been crucial to the massive expansion of antiretroviral treatment (ART) for nearly 12 million people with HIV in low- and middle-income countries today. Developing countries and global HIV programs such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will continue to depend heavily on affordable generic drugs to deliver treatment to the millions of people who still don’t have access to it.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">However, many newer and better-tolerated antiretroviral drugs are still under patent and remain out of reach for many people in developing countries.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">“It’s important to note that we never would have been able to take such giant leaps in fighting the global AIDS epidemic if the proposed IP provisions under the TPP were the standard a decade ago,” said Greg Millett, amfAR Vice President and Director of Public Policy. “If the door starts to close on generic production of antiretrovirals, any hope of ending the global AIDS epidemic in our lifetime will quickly evaporate.”<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">The full report, “Trans-Pacific Partnership: Curbing Access to Medicines Now and in the Future,” is available on amfAR’s web site at <a href="http://www.amfar.org" style="color: purple;" class="">www.amfar.org</a>.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">About amfAR</b><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested $415 million in its programs and has awarded more than 3,300 grants to research teams worldwide.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">Jack MacAllister</span></b><b class=""><i class=""><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray;" class=""><br class="">Senior Policy Associate<o:p class=""></o:p></span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><i class=""><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray;" class=""><br class=""></span></i></b><b class=""><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research<br class="">Public Policy Office<br class=""></span></b><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray;" class="">1150 17th Street NW, Suite 406</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray;" class="">Washington, DC 20036</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray;" class="">t. +1.202.331.8600</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray;" class="">m. +1.315.345.7146 (USA)<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray;" class="">m. +1.202.415.4198 (Int)<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray;" class=""><br class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></body></html>