By Kristina Lybecker
A shot in the arm for Colorado’s economy may well come from trade decisions made literally on the other side of the globe.
Negotiations are continuing on the Trans Pacific Partnership and health care is a key pillar of the talks. Increasingly, economic leaders are using new trade agreements and a means to promote improved health care. The theory is that improved health quality around the world is a vital component to reinvigorating national economies.
Why does this matter to Colorado’s economy?
For our state, TPP presents an opportunity to protect and grow the state’s bioscience industry, which is an expanding component of the state’s economy. The bioscience industry directly employs 20,000 Coloradans and spurs the creation of another 80,000 indirect jobs – combining for $7 billion in payroll. Colorado is home to more than 600 bioscience companies that are active in biotechnology, medical devices, diagnostics, agricultural-biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. In addition, Colorado research institutions such as the University of Colorado and Colorado State University spin out 20 new bioscience companies each year. This is why Colorado has so much at stake in the Trans Pacific Partnership talks.
As trade negotiators put a higher priority on health policy, and an increased focus is placed on wellness and improving the quality of life in countries around the world, this presents an expanded demand for products from Colorado companies. The focus of these new trade agreements must be to foster effective public policies and strong collaboration to bring medical innovations to patients in the Asia-Pacific region, which, in turn, helps create a healthier workforce and economic growth.
This seems the heart of common sense. Yet there are a number of major hurdles to achieving success and helping Colorado bioscience companies grow.
Many factors constrain access to safe and effective medicines. Among the challenges are poor distribution networks for medicines, rooted in a lack of basic infrastructure, transportation, hospitals, clinics and health care professionals. Taxes or tariffs may be levied on donated medicines or on medicines that are supplied at cost and the increased expense associated with those levies is then passed directly to health care institutions and patients. Discriminatory and non-transparent regulatory regimes, unnecessarily burdensome customs requirements and other trade barriers also hinder the provision of both innovative and generic medicines to those who urgently need them. At the same time, substandard and spurious medicines impede access to real lifesaving medicines. Beyond forgoing the therapeutic value of genuine medicines, counterfeit drugs may harm or even kill unsuspecting patients.
It is this latter issue – and the resulting need to put a premium on high standards of intellectual property protection – that is vital to safeguarding Colorado companies’ innovations and investments.
Intellectual property plays an important role in providing the incentives necessary for the development of new medicines, especially cutting-edge biologics. An effective, transparent and predictable intellectual property system is necessary for both manufacturers of innovative medicines, medical diagnostic tools and biotechnology. It is also essential to the creation and growth of a more robust, innovative health care sector which will contribute to further economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
Without question, trade policy alone cannot address the challenges surrounding to access to medicines and must be coupled with foreign assistance and development programs, other foreign policy initiatives and direct engagement with other countries on public health issues. Nonetheless, the Trans Pacific Partnership provides an excellent opportunity to move from ambitious goals to enhanced public health and greater economic prosperity, for the bioscience industry here in Colorado and throughout our nation.
Kristina M. Lybecker is a professor in the Department of Economics & Business at Colorado College.