Drug prices are set to be a major issue in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election next year, with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton having pledged to rein in costs in a country that has the world's highest prices.
Comment: The idea that Hillary will act to contain the pharmaceutical industry is laughable, considering that she has received more campaign cash from drug companies than any candidate in either party, even as she declares the industry is one of her biggest enemies.
The busy drug pipeline to the West also illustrates how the vast bulk of research cash is spent on developing money-spinning medicines for rich countries, rather than to tackle tropical diseases that kill millions in the developing world.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has so far approved 37 novel drugs in 2015, more than the 34 that had been cleared by this stage a year ago and just short of 2014's final total of 41, which was an 18-year high.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is also waving through more products, recommending a total of 84 new medicines so far, up from 75 in the first 11 months of 2014, according to data released on Friday. Unlike the FDA, the EMA includes generic drugs in its list.
Comment: With the approval of the TPPA, the profiteering of the pharmaceutical industry at the expense of the public will only get worse. The TPPA will enshrine a billions-over-millions trade-off: billions of dollars in profits will be made by patent-holding pharmaceutical corporations, and millions of people will needlessly suffer and die. TPPA is designed to block the sick and the poor from accessing affordable generic and biosimilar medicines.