Taking My Medicine Before Work

Many thanks to those who replied to the previous post. It's nice to know that someone occasionally drops in to sample the swill. I hope you all had (are having) a good break.

Mine ended today. Having risen early to get to work I caught this gem on the ABC's AM program.

US pharmaceutical companies would like changes in the Aus / US Free Trade Agreement. Some would remember that Mark Latham forced amendments to the FTA to stop drug companies extending drug patents, known as 'evergreening,' to prevent the sale of cheap generic drugs.

It was a measure the Trade Minister and now Acting Prime Minister Mark Vaile never agreed was necessary, and he's been telling AM's Peta Donald it could now be revisited.

MARK VAILE: All I've said is that of course, in reviewing an agreement, all aspects of it are on the table for discussion.

Now, I'm sure that the American side, particularly industry in America, will like to have a discussion about the way those amendments and the provisions of those amendments are operating. But the point needs to be made that they would have to prove that those amendments are being commercially detrimental, which we don't believe they are.

PETA DONALD: It would be easy to argue, wouldn't it, that it would be commercially detrimental to a drug company if they were no longer able to stop a competitor from introducing a cheaper generic version of their drug? That would be commercially detrimental, wouldn't it?

MARK VAILE: Under the Australian system, innovative drug companies get a very liberal dose of protection under the patent arrangements. They do have opportunities for patent extensions, if there is a significant improvement in the benefits that flow from that drug.

But through our process of certification in the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) we don't allow the abuse of the system, for example, changing the colour of a medication or changing some aspect of the labelling that is the subject of so-called evergreening. We don't allow those sorts of things to take place in Australia.

So the reality is that it didn't need this measure in the first place by the Labor Party.

Mark Vaile is not the only one who thinks the amendment is ineffective.

The head of Medicines Australia, Kieran Schneemann, says he can guarantee that if the clause is removed the cost of drugs will not rise.

Then why do they want to get rid of it?

Stay tuned for the 'Cheaper Drugs for All' advertising campaign to allay the population's misgivings before the amended act passes through parliament.