A leaked draft chapter of the contentious Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal reveals New Zealand is still some way from reaching agreement with the United States and other players in a number of key areas.
The confidential draft chapter dealing with intellectual property was published online by the UK-based Wikileaks organisation on Thursday.
It shows New Zealand is still at odds with the US over proposals to extend patent protections for pharmaceutical products.
The US proposals could limit access to cheaper generic drugs and have significant consequences for New Zealand's drug-buying agency Pharmac and how it purchases affordable medicines.
New Zealand, with the backing of five other countries, has proposed a clause to allow parties to the agreement to "adopt or maintain measures to encourage the timely entry of pharmaceutical products to its market".
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
New Zealand also opposes aspects of the draft text that deal with internet freedom, agricultural chemical products, and the ownership of native plants and animals.
The 95-page draft text had been distributed to negotiators at the conclusion of talks in Brunei in August.
There have been two more rounds of talks since then and negotiators are set to meet again next week in Salt Lake City to try to make progress on reaching an agreement.
US President Barack Obama had set a target last year of concluding the agreement by Christmas, a date which was reaffirmed at the TPP leaders' meeting in Bali in October.
In a statement following that meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister John Key, TPP leaders said they were on track to complete negotiations and "significant progress" had been made in recent months.
Negotiations over the TPP began in 2007 with the aim of expanding an existing free trade agreement (FTA) between Chile, New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei to include the US, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Peru, Mexico and Canada.
That would account for more than 40 per cent of the global economy.
The New Zealand government wants a TPP that would eliminate all tariffs and Mr Key has previously said that if a deal is reached, it could boost the nation's economy by more than $NZ3 billion ($A2.68 billion) a year.
