Ministry rejects proposal to extend patents

GEORGE TOWN: The Health Ministry rejects the proposal by the United States (US) to extend the expiry date of patents of medicines in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) for the medical sector.Health Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said the duration of the patents should be reduced to enable a particular nation to produce generic medicines.

Previously, he said, the duration had been fixed for 20 years but there was a suggestion by the US recently for the duration to be extended to protect intellectual property rights.

"We too want to give medicines whose quality commensurates with the low price to the people but if the (US) proposal is accepted, then the nation will lose because it will have to wait until the period expires before being allowed to do so.

"The Health Ministry has announced that we do not agree on the extension of the duration of patency of the medicines as it will burden the people," he said.

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He said the production of generic medicines would not be allowed during the patency period if the US proposal were to be accepted by all the countries that joined the Trans Pacific Partnership.

However, Hilmi said the views and suggestions of the Health Ministry on the TPPA were still at the discussion stage.

Meanwhile, Second International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) document may not be tabled in the Parliament this year because of time constraint.

He said the coming Dewan Rakyat sitting, which would start on Oct 19, would focus on the tabling and passing of the Budget 2016.

"It is rather challenging to try to bring it to the Parliament this year but we will try. However, we need to discuss first with the Dewan Rakyat Speaker (Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia) on this.

"After all, we need to familiarise people with TPPA first because many are still confused," he said.

On Wednesday, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia would need to get the Parliament's approval before signing the agreement.

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He said even though the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) had concluded, Malaysia had yet to sign the agreement and the text document on it would likely be available at end of this month.

The TPPA negotiations, which were first launched in 2005, involved 12 countries, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

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