KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 – Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will not cause the medicine prices to increase, but it may contributed by many other factors. Health Minister Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam said the prevailing situation in Jordan should not be equated with Malaysia as the registration of medicines are different in the country.
For example, he said, Malaysia has “access window” which is a policy to promote new medicines in this country that are not available in Jordan. Meanwhile, he also said that another claim that medicine prices in New Zealand will increase after the TPPA is not true. He said if a member of the board refers to the official website of the government of that country, there is no statement on this issue.
He said this when winding up health-related issues under the TPPA in Parliament, here, today. He also added that the government had succeeded in ensuring that the period of patent protection for pharmaceutical products remained 20 years as provided under the TRIPS Agreement, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Patents Act 1983, even after the TPPA signed.
He said the same thing also for the protection of clinical data for biologic products which at United States, the protection period is 12 years and eight years in Japan, but after negotiations, Malaysia managed to obtain protection for five years similar to the existing policies for pharmaceuticals.
“In addition, the board members are also expected not to link the price of medicines with patent issue as it is also affected by other factors such as foreign exchange rates, cost of research and demand and supply. Meanwhile, this has also concurred by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Malaysia,” he said.
