Undermining Access to Medicines: Comparison of Five US FTAs. The US government is using bilateral and regional free-trade agreements (FTAs) to impose unnecessarily stringent intellectual property standards on developing countries that go beyond World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. These new higher standards favor the short-term commercial interests of US pharmaceutical companies, at the expense of public health in developing countries. Oxfam has analyzed a selection of key US FTAs: The provisions in these agreements go far beyond the obligations required by the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The new "TRIPS-plus" obligations in the FTAs close off the public health safeguards available to WTO members under TRIPs and will restrict access to affordable medicines in developing countries.

By Oxfam USA, US.

International Trade Policy Resource.