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# Generic Drug Industry’s Trade Agreement Concerns
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/generic-drug-industrys-trade-agreement-concerns/
- Published: 2018-11-06T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T00:42:53.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5142751

FDA has released a 10/17 letter from the Association for Accessible Medicines raising concerns about the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement. “The trade agreement, if left in its current form, will decrease competition, inevitably leading to increased drug prices in the United States, harming patients, job creators, workers, and taxpayers,” the [letter](https://accessiblemeds.org/sites/default/files/2018-11/Association-for-Accessible-Medicines-AAM-Fix-USMCA-Letter-to-USTR.pdf?ref=fdaweb.com) says. “Furthermore, several provisions within the agreement are inconsistent with U.S. law, and if left unchanged could lead to inappropriate changes in U.S. law or cause the United States to be in violation of the agreement on day one of its enactment.”

The letter says the association supports the administration’s efforts to lower drug prices and supports trade agreements that balance the need for medical innovation and enhanced access to medicines. It particularly calls attention to concerns that the agreement’s intellectual property rights chapter almost uniformly protects and extends patent monopolies of brand name companies.

The association provides changes it would like to see in the agreement.