No Pravda in Izvestia

U.S. Shifts Stance on Drug Pricing in Pacific Trade Pact Talks, Document Reveals

By JONATHAN WEISMAN, Izvestia

JUNE 10, 2015

Facing resistance from its Pacific trading partners, the Obama administration is no longer demanding protection for pharmaceutical prices under the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to a newly leaked “transparency” annex of the proposed trade accord.

Oh.  Really?

Public health professionals say pharmaceutical industry lobbying is meant to diminish the power of government health programs that trim reimbursement rates to the global pharmaceutical giants. The newly leaked annex, dated Dec. 17, 2014, explicitly lists Medicare and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as falling under its strictures.

That may embolden critics.

“The leak is just the latest glaring example of why fast-tracking the T.P.P. would undermine the health of Americans and the other countries and cost our government more, all to the benefit of pharma’s profits,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch and one of the most prominent voices in the coalition working to scuttle trade promotion authority.

…

By explicitly listing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the annex makes it clear the United States is not immune to Trans-Pacific Partnership rules. Japan, Australia and New Zealand may not have pharmaceutical companies as powerful as the United States’ but under the accord, United States subsidiaries located in Pacific trade partners could use the accord’s dispute resolution process to tackle perceived violations by Medicare officials.

The annex makes clear that disputes over pharmaceutical listing procedures would not be subject to government-to-government dispute resolution, the World Trade Organization and retaliatory tariffs.

Instead, disputes would be resolved through the Investor-State Dispute Settlement process, which involves three-lawyer extrajudicial tribunals organized under rules set by the United Nations or World Bank.

That could be significant, both for current Medicare practices and future efforts to lower cost, said Peter Maybarduk of Public Citizen’s Global Access to Medicines project. Drug makers have limited access to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services policy makers as they decide which drugs to list and how much to reimburse. The Trans-Pacific Partnership could change that.

It could also hinder efforts by many Democrats to change federal law precluding the government from negotiating drug prices directly with pharmaceutical makers. To make that work, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would need a “national formulary” – a government list of accepted medications. But each decision is subject to review and appeal, which would make it far more difficult, Mr. Maybarduk said.

So, no, not at all.  A complete fabrication.  In short- a lie.