TPP: Still a terrible deal for poor people's health

When the intellectual property (IP) chapter of the U.S.-led Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement was leaked late last year, it confirmed everything public health watchers had warned about for years. The far-reaching 12-country trade agreement would deny access to affordable medicines for patients across all TPP countries by strengthening and lengthening drug patent and regulatory monopolies and delaying generic competition. Several negotiating countries balked at the blatantly anti-public health provisions, so the U.S. proposed giving the poorest countries more time to comply with a few provisions.