Much Ado about the TPP's Effect on Pharmaceuticals
Abstract
The many provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) that were beneficial to the pharmaceutical industry caused a good deal of controversy. Specifically, critics alleged that the TPP's provisions requiring that member states expand patentable subject matter and adjust pharmaceutical patent terms would have raised drug prices and hindered access to medicines, particularly in developing countries. But closer examination of these provisions, as well as the various ways in which member states can modify or ameliorate the effects of these provisions, suggests that their potential effect on drug prices and access to health care is not nearly so clear.
This paper has been withdrawn.