US, Australia & Canada Decide Screw Over Poor Nations Because Big Pharma's Not Happy With TPP
from the isn't-that-nice dept
With the conclusion of the negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement now in place, there has been some ridiculous whining from the pharmaceutical industry which got almost everything it wanted in the agreement, but wasn't quite able to get a few things, including a 12 year patent-like exclusivity on biologics. And, because of that hissy fit, apparently, the USTR and its counterparts in Australia and Canada have agreed to help out Big Pharma in another arena. Jamie Love is reporting that this week there's a meeting at the WTO this week to explore granting a special exemption on patent rules for developing nations (i.e., those who often need drugs the most, while also being the least likely to be able to afford them). It's silly to enforce patents in these countries, because doing so would not only lead to almost no business at all, but (more importantly) because lots of people will die or, at the very least, suffer needlessly.But, because Big Pharma is upset about the TPP, the USTR and others have decided that they "can't" agree to anything that might upset Pharma. Talk about a bunch of captured government officials...
On Friday, 9 October 2015, Ambassador Punke met with representatives from 15 countries (including 5 Ambassadors) from the LDC Group. Ambassador Punke clearly indicated that the US could not agree on an indefinite exemption because certain stakeholders in the United States were quite upset with concessions made by USTR during the final stages of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Informed sources noted that the US indicated that "the TPP did not deliver as expected on IP and so we are under a lot of pressure not to give in more on IP."How far the pharma industry has come from the days when George Merck declared: "We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear. The better we have remembered it, the larger they have been."
And, really, how do the folks who work at the USTR sleep at night knowing that they're doing this for no reason other than to help out the profits of a few giant companies at the expense of the public?
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Filed Under: developing nations, drug prices, ldc, patents, pharma, pharmaceuticals, tpp, wto
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Easy. They own stock.
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That's rather simplistic. The real reason't isn't likely because they own stock (though it's not out of the realm of possibility), it's because our officials have been sold on a game theoretic view of world relations that ties the economic success of our corporations with our ability (as a nation) to command power and influence in the world.
It's a zero-sum game to them.
That's why, for example, the NSA has been directed to spy on climate negotiations. Not because Exxon put something in Obama's ear, but because too fast of a course on climate negotiations is bad for us economically, and thus reduces our influence in the world.
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What's good for Big Pharma is good for America?
You know, during the Great Depression Ford was one of the fat boys playing cards with Hoover.
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Nice name for the ambassador
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Re: Nice name for the ambassador
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Money. Pools of money. That, and lots of *Copyrighted, Trademarked and Patented Drug name here* help them sleep.
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On a side note, Merck didn't take into account collective, unhindered greed from those in power positions when he said that.
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really now?
I hear say that Russia will be bidding on the prisons.
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really now?
I hear say that Russia will be bidding on the prisons.
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really now?
I hear say that Russia will be bidding on the prisons.
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How do they sleep at night?
On piles of money.
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really now?
I hear say that Russia will be bidding on the prisons.
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In silk sheets, rolling naked in money.
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Sociopathic children
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Re: Sociopathic children
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Horlicks. With all those bribes, I mean, campaign donations and favours, flying about, they can easily afford to buy it by the barrel.
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Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
That's an easy one.
They sleep great because they count themselves to sleep each night.
$10,000, $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, $60,000, $70,000, $80,000, $90,000, $100,000, $110,000, $120,000, $130,000, $140,000, $150,000, $160,000, $170,000, $180,000...
Adding up one's ill-gotten gains has always been a perfect method of inducing sleep for villains, thieves, scoundrels and politicians throughout human history.
In fact, due precisely to the incredibly large amounts of money they need to count each day, those who fuck over the masses for a living, generally sleep better than any other sector of humanity.
It is also truly amazing how exhausting cocaine and bimbos can be, not to mention yacht maintenance.
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