All Costs, No Benefits: How the US-Jordan Free Trade Agreement Affects Access to Medicines

Abstract

The US-Jordan free trade agreement and Jordan's terms of World Trade Organization accession introduced Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)-plus rules to the country's intellectual property (IP) law. This paper examines the benefits and consequences of TRIPS-plus rules and reports numerous negative consequences. In particular, data exclusivity, a TRIPS-plus rule, delayed generic competition for 79 per cent of medicines launched by multinational pharmaceutical companies between 2002 and mid-2006, which otherwise would have been available in an inexpensive, generic form. The public health system and individuals, owing to a lack of generic competition, had to pay higher prices for new medicines. There have been no benefits from introducing strict IP rules in Jordan. There has been nearly no foreign direct investment by drug companies into Jordan between 2002 and mid-2006 to develop medicines with local companies. TRIPS-plus rules have not encouraged Jordanian generic companies to engage in research and development for medicines. Finally, new product launches in Jordan are only a fraction of total product launches in the United States and the European Union and are unaffordable for ordinary people. TRIPS-plus rules contributed to a 20 per cent increase in medicine prices between 2002 and 2006. Higher medicine prices will strain Jordan's public health system and require significant out-of-pocket expenditure that will harm the poorest.