23 September 2019 - A group of institutional investors representing more than US$500 billion is calling on the U.S. Congress to vote down the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement to prevent extended monopoly rights for pharmaceutical companies in all three countries.

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which represents more than 300 religious institutional investors, pension funds, foundations, asset managers and more, is leading the call. The group says the protections built into the agreement will increase drug prices, delay generic medicines from coming to market and ultimately harm patients.

In its letter to Congress, the group also argued the changes would incentivize innovative drug manufacturers to “pursue business strategies that further delay competition, and are based on revenue increases reliant on drug price increases rather than the development of new life-saving medicine.”

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