TPP May Push up Medicine Prices in Vietnam

The Trans-Pacific Partnership membership is expected to make medicine more expensive in Vietnam, according to an Oxfam report on the intellectual property (IP) and other monopoly regulation impacts of the trade deal. Though IP rules have not yet played a major role in setting pharmaceutical prices in Vietnam, the prices of medicine in Vietnam are already unaffordable and out of reach. According to the World Health Organization, medicine is less affordable in Vietnam compared to neighboring countries. Patented medicine in Vietnam is up to 50-fold higher than the international reference price (the lowest international price for the therapeutic equivalent of a medicine), while the price of generic medicine is over 10-fold higher than that of the lowest priced generics available worldwide. According to pharmaceutical experts, strict levels of IP protection and pharmaceutical pricing provisions in the TPP will drastically undermine Vietnam’s efforts to manage medicine prices and access to low-cost generic medicines. “The new rules proposed under the TPP will seriously constrain Vietnam’s ability to manage medicine prices in the future, and will increase the burden on the government and households to pay for medicine,” said the report. These rules will likely compromise fledgling efforts in Vietnam to ensure the quality and safety to medicine, the report noted. In addition, according to a report on “Possible Impacts of the TPP on accessibility to medicine” complied by the Hanoi School of Public Health, under the TPP’s impacts, large monopolies will increase pharmaceutical prices and reduce public access to medicine, especially for highly vulnerable groups, such as those affected by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, viruses, and chronic diseases like cardiovascular disorders and diabetes. According to Ho Chi Minh Securities Corporation, under the TPP commitments, Vietnam will have to reduce its pharmaceutical product import tariff from the existing average of 5% to 0%. Local pharmaceutical firms would face harsh competition from imported products, especially those monopolized by foreign firms. The TPP negotiations started in 2005 and so far involved 12 countries, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam.(Oxfamamerica.org Oct, VoV.vn Oct 19)