Protecting Access to Medicines in CUSMA Renegotiations

The renegotiation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) is slated to begin in 2026. The US pharmaceutical industry has voiced a number of concerns about various aspects of Canadian pharmaceutical policy including intellectual property rights and drug prices. These issues are likely to figure prominently in the talks. Here we argue that a Canadian priority should be to ensure that IPR on pharmaceutical products are not strengthened in order to keep drug prices at an affordable level. We conclude by offering our recommendations about what actions Canada should take as a result of its review.