Atlanta, October 6 (RHC)-- The United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries have reached an agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact encompassing about 40 percent of the global economy.

The negotiators meeting behind closed doors in Atlanta, Georgia, reportedly reached a deal on the so-called death sentence clause, extending drug company monopolies on medicines.

The United States and drug companies had pressed for longer monopolies on new biotech drugs, while multiple countries opposed the push, saying it could deny life-saving medicines to patients who cannot afford high prices. The compromise reportedly includes monopolies of between five and eight years.

A number of demonstrators have been arrested protesting the secret negotiations over the TPP, which they say will aid corporations at the expense of health, environmental and labor protections. The U.S. Congress will have at least 90 days to review the TPP before President Barack Obama can sign it.