Bilateral Trade Agreements as Drivers of National and Transnational Benefit from Health Technology Policy: Implications of Recent US Deals for Australian Negotiations with China and India
Australian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 62, No. 2, pp. 196-213, June 2008
19 Pages Posted: 23 Sep 2010 Last revised: 30 Aug 2018
Abstract
This paper compares controversial health technology provisions in two important United States free trade agreements with developed nations: with Australia and with South Korea. It examines the multinational corporate forces behind the medicines and medical devices components of these texts and their likely impacts in this area upon Australian trade negotiations with China and India. It also examines the implications of some recent changes to US trade policy for this area in subsequent bilateral deals, such as that with Peru. This article argues it is important that the Australian government change policy and, like recent administrations in the United States, now systematically approach such impending trade agreements with a view of assisting the partners’ regulatory frameworks to maximally enhance national and transnational benefit from their medicines and biotechnology industries.
Keywords: bilateral trade agreements, free trade agreements, TRIPS agreement, health technology, pharmaceutical regulation
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