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Today Jeremy Corbyn promised to bring medical research into common ownership at #LabourConference2019. This is a huge campaign victory, and a huge challenge to the power of Big Pharma. Here’s what it means: (1/9) #Lab19
At the moment, medicines are produced by a monopoly of giant corporations for super profits. They cost our #NHS over £18bn last year - an increase of 4.6% from the previous year - and means it can’t afford some new medicines. People are dying, the NHS is being undermined. (2/9)
Luis Walker featured in Corbyn’s leaders’ speech is an 8-year old boy with cystic fibrosis. There’s a drug, Orkambi, that could alleviate his symptoms and slow the disease, potentially adding years to his life. But it’s too expensive for the NHS (£105,000!) (3/9)
Moreover, it means many many people die globally every year because essential drugs aren’t being researched or, where they are, are astronomically expensive. Medicines like antibiotics – vital for modern medicine – could become ineffective in coming decades (4/9)
At @GlobalJusticeUK @stopaids and @JustTreatment we’ve campaigned for a new model to research and develop medicines by removing the power of Big Pharma monopolies. Today, Labour has adopted many of our recommendations (5/9)
@GlobalJusticeUK @STOPAIDS @JustTreatment Compulsory licensing means Britain would use its legal rights to override Big Pharma’s monopolies and produce cheaper drugs where necessary. And help other countries to do the same. (6/9)
@GlobalJusticeUK @STOPAIDS @JustTreatment Conditions would be placed on the (many) drugs researched with public funding to ensure this research can’t be used to profit big business. (7/9)
@GlobalJusticeUK @STOPAIDS @JustTreatment There would be public ownership of medical r&d, presenting a public challenge to the private sector – in essence nationalisation of pharmaceutical research. Where the private sector does produce drugs, r&d would be delinked from patents. (8/9)
@GlobalJusticeUK @STOPAIDS @JustTreatment In other words, Labour promised a massive shake up, using regulation and common ownership to transform the production of medicines here and across the world. More information here: labour.org.uk/medicinesforth…. Quite a day at #labourpartyconference2019 #Lab19 (9/9)
