The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement is being negotiated in secret, without input from public health stakeholders. A leaked draft of the negotiating text has revealed some proposed provisions that could undermine access to price-lowering, generic medicines, and thus, life-saving treatment to millions of people in the developing world.
As a medical humanitarian organisation working in nearly 70 countries, Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is concerned that demands for intellectual property provisions in the intellectual property and investment chapters could potentially challenge a government’s capacity to initiate and execute policies to protect public health and ensure affordable access to medicines for all, in particular in developing countries where most of MSF’s operations are based.
