<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 class=""><a href="https://sojo.net/articles/medicine-monopolies-are-poised-get-worse" class="">https://sojo.net/articles/medicine-monopolies-are-poised-get-worse</a></div><div class=""><h1 class="hero-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.75rem; margin: 0.2rem 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; font-family: Oswald, Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; line-height: 1.4; text-align: center;">Medicine Monopolies Are Poised to Get Worse</h1><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="field-label-hidden field-type-entityreference field-name-field-author field-wrapper field" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px 0px 0.5rem; font-style: italic; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(202, 202, 194); color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">By </span><span class="author-name" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-right: 0.25rem;"><a href="https://sojo.net/biography/fran-quigley" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; border-bottom-style: none;" class="">Fran Quigley</a> </span><span class="pub-date" style="box-sizing: border-box;">4-24-2019</span><div class="print-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; float: right;"><a href="https://sojo.net/print/228132" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-style: none; text-indent: 101%; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; background-image: url(https://sojo.net/sites/all/themes/sojod7/images/print.png); display: block; height: 24px; width: 24px; background-position: left center; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" class="">Print</a></div></div></div><div class="field body" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class="">Tobeka Daki lived in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, and was the mother of two sons. In 2013, she was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer. What should have been good news for Daki is that there is a medicine called trastuzumab, marketed under the name Herceptin, that can be effective at treating her form of breast cancer. The groundbreaking research that led to the discovery of trastuzumab was <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/research/progress/discovery/HER2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">funded by the U.S. government</a>. A year’s dose can be manufactured for <a href="http://infojustice.org/archives/33877" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">about $176</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class="">The bad news for Daki was that global trade agreements had ensured that the multinational corporation Roche held monopoly rights to trastuzumab throughout most of the world, including South Africa. So the corporation was free to set a price of <a href="https://actions.sumofus.org/a/south-africa-people-are-dying-stop-protecting-big-pharma-and-reform-the-drug-patent-laws-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">about $34,000 </a>in South Africa for a year’s worth of doses — 193 times the manufacturing cost. That cost was also five times more than Daki’s entire income. She died on Nov. 24, 2016, never having received trastuzumab.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class="">Tobeka Daki became one of <a href="http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/human_rights/A63_263.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">10 million people</a> who die each year because they cannot afford the cost of medicines. Most medicines are inexpensive to make, and virtually all were discovered <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2018/02/12/nih-funding-drug-development/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">thanks to government investments</a>. So, it is no exaggeration to say that the worldwide network of medicine monopolies, which give unchecked power to charge virtually any price on life-essential goods, were the cause of most of these deaths. Proposed terms in the new NAFTA, called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) by the Trump administration, would strengthen and create more medicine monopolies across North America. But the faith community, led by a broad coalition of denomination leaders and advocacy groups, is pushing back.</p><div id="ad-blog-1-228132" class="ad-blog ad " data-google-query-id="CILi55bw7eECFUh_wQodizMPeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px -8rem 2rem 2rem; padding: 0px; float: right; max-width: none; clear: right; position: relative; z-index: 2;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/5950310/Blog_1_0__container__" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0pt none;" class=""><iframe id="google_ads_iframe_/5950310/Blog_1_0" title="3rd party ad content" name="google_ads_iframe_/5950310/Blog_1_0" width="300" height="250" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" data-google-container-id="1" data-load-complete="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" class=""></iframe></div></div><p class="after-ad" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement of 1994, commonly known as TRIPS, sets the stage for corporations to obtain medicine monopolies worldwide. Those corporations have eagerly taken advantage, maneuvering for as much exclusivity as possible. Virtually every medicine has a fortress of monopolies built around it: for example, the corporation AbbVie has taken out <a href="http://www.i-mak.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/i-mak.humira.report.final_.0917.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">247 patent applications</a> on Humira, the world’s best-selling drug.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class="">This is an enviable business model: The corporations that sell the medicines make <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28212223" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">record-breaking profits</a> and spend <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/11/big-pharmaceutical-companies-are-spending-far-more-on-marketing-than-research/?utm_term=.1b48ac02e71e" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">more on marketing and lobbying</a> than they do on research. New cancer medicines average <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2018/presidents-cancer-panel-drug-prices" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">over $100,000 per patient</a>. Some medicines are now priced as high as <a href="https://khn.org/news/drug-puts-a-750000-price-tag-on-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">$750,000</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class="">Yet the law does not have to work against patients. The TRIPS agreement permits countries to choose to create far-cheaper generic alternatives to monopoly-protected medicines. They can do so either through compulsory licensing (allowing companies to manufacture generic medicines with some reimbursement for the patent holders), or importation of generics from other countries.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class="">But access to generic medicines has been undercut by so-called “TRIPS-Plus” trade agreements that include even more corporate monopoly protections than the original deal. The USMCA is firmly in that TRIPS-Plus category. Among other monopoly-extending terms, the USMCA would add a frightening barrier to the existing NAFTA: a full 10 years of what is called “data exclusivity” on biologics drugs. Data exclusivity blocks would-be competitors from accessing the information needed to gain approval to sell cheaper “biosimilars.” It is a monopoly separate from patent protection, designed to last beyond the life of the patents the corporation already received.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class="">Biologics, made from living organisms, are some of the most impactful new medicines, especially for treating cancers and autoimmune diseases. They are often the most expensive, too. The USMCA proposes to create longer monopoly protections for biologics than any trade agreement in history. It would force Canada and Mexico to <a href="http://behindthenumbers.ca/2019/04/11/usmca-and-drug-costs-time-to-stand-up-to-big-pharma/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">lengthen monopolies under their national laws</a>, and handcuff the U.S. from pursuing the <a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2018/10/01/nafta-drug-prices-canada-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">many national proposals</a> to reduce our own data exclusivity period.</p><div id="ad-blog-2-228132" class="ad-blog ad " data-google-query-id="CIPi55bw7eECFUh_wQodizMPeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px -8rem 2rem 2rem; padding: 0px; float: right; max-width: none; clear: right; position: relative; z-index: 2;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/5950310/Blog_2_0__container__" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0pt none;" class=""><iframe id="google_ads_iframe_/5950310/Blog_2_0" title="3rd party ad content" name="google_ads_iframe_/5950310/Blog_2_0" width="300" height="250" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" data-google-container-id="2" data-load-complete="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" class=""></iframe></div></div><p class="after-ad" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">The bottom line is this: If the new NAFTA becomes law, it will cause unnecessary deaths in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. There will be thousands more like Tobeka Dakis.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class="">For people of faith, this is unacceptable. All major religious and moral traditions embrace a responsibility to provide for the poor and the sick. And that obligation goes beyond direct care, calling us to use our voices to protect those in desperate need of medicines.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class="">The leaders of major Christian denominations have come together to urge the president and Congress to do better on the USMCA. Organized and supported by Jubilee USA, leaders of the U.S. Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, United Church of Christ and Presbyterian churches sent <a href="http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/global-issues/trade/interfaith-access-to-medicines-statement-2018-05-15.cfm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">a joint letter</a> last May. The letter states, “We call on you to ensure that terms of a renegotiated NAFTA avoid enhanced and extended monopolies on life-essential medicines. Instead, we ask that a renegotiated NAFTA reaffirm . . . the human right to health and access to medicines for all.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class=""><a href="http://columbancenter.org/content/Faith-Based-Principles-for-NAFTA-Renegotiation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">A similar call</a> was issued last year by a coalition of faith advocacy organizations, including NETWORK, the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach, and the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. (The organization I’m affiliated with, Faith in Healthcare — formerly known as People of Faith for Access to Medicines — also signed this statement.)</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" class="">The signers of these faith statements have followed up their letters with a continued push for health care justice. All persons of faith, and their organizations, are invited to add their names to the denomination letter, available <a href="https://www.jubileeusa.org/accesstomeds2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">at the Jubilee USA website</a>. And Representatives Susan Davis (D-Calif.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) are leading a coalition of members of Congress demanding that the Trump administration reopen the USMCA and remove medicine monopolies. NETWORK and other organizations are urging people of faith to call on our congressional representatives to join in.</p><div id="ad-blog-3-228132" class="ad-blog ad " data-google-query-id="CITi55bw7eECFUh_wQodizMPeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px -8rem 2rem 2rem; padding: 0px; float: right; max-width: none; clear: right; position: relative; z-index: 2;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/5950310/Blog_3_0__container__" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0pt none;" class=""><iframe id="google_ads_iframe_/5950310/Blog_3_0" title="3rd party ad content" name="google_ads_iframe_/5950310/Blog_3_0" width="300" height="250" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" data-google-container-id="3" data-load-complete="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" class=""></iframe></div></div><p class="after-ad" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">The USMCA will not become law without congressional approval, and recent history shows that is no certainty. Concerns about medicine monopolies <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/how-a-battle-over-affordable-medicine-helped-kill-the-tpp-20161118" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; font-weight: 700; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(245, 139, 44);" class="">helped scuttle the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement</a> in 2017. If the faith community insists that every life like Tobeka Daki’s deserves to be protected, our voices could make the difference.</p></div></div><div class="">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; " class=""><div class="">Arthur Stamoulis</div><div class="">Citizens Trade Campaign</div><div class="">(202) 494-8826</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<br class=""></body></html>