Big Pharma and US bullying NZ for ensuring cheap, free medicine

Pharmac, New Zealand's medicine-buying agency, uses a value-for-money model that funds and subsidises medicine to ensure all New Zealanders have access to affordable - and sometimes free - medicinal interventions.

That $200 you spent in the US for 10 pills? It's $4 in New Zealand.

But pharmaceutical companies and the US are pressuring the New Zealand government to make changes to Pharmac, using a free-trade agreement as ransom.

Exactly what changes to Pharmac the US might seek from New Zealand in the trade talks is not known – the talks remain secret... But what is becoming clear is how fervently the little drug-buying agency at the bottom of the world is resented by the big pharmaceutical companies.

In the US, the industry has singled out Pharmac in intense lobbying of the US Government ahead of the resumption of talks. A position paper from the US pharmaceutical industry cited Pharmac as "an egregious example", "using coercive negotiating tactics such as demanding price reductions on certain products in exchange for listing newer products, and waiting out patent terms before listing medicines".

Trade Minister Tim Groser is tight-lipped regarding any changes that may or may not occur. Asked why Pharmac can’t be taken off the negotiation table, he remarked, "Because if you remove one element from the table, then the other side can remove other elements, so we’ll work through all these issues in a professional manner."

Will medicine cost more? "Look, I think we’ve gone as far as we can in this conversation."

And given the National Party’s eagerness to sell off assets for foreign money, it’s a strong possibility changes will be made and NZ could move to an American-style inequity in healthcare provision.

http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/pharmac-future-discussed-in-us-trade-talks/