A reminder, this system was developed as a 'magna carta for capitalism' to help undermine the decolonial movements of the 50s-70s, as explained here by @_BvdM 2/6 newstatesman.com/business/2021/…
More recently, they've become a multimillion dollar industry which is helping fossil fuel corporations challenge climate action and maintain their profits, often raising funds to engage in new oil/ coal/ gas exploration. #ClimateEmergency 3/6 aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/…
Take action on Saturday. Protest in your area. Demand the government stop signing trade deals which contain corporate courts and withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty #ECT 5/6 globaljustice.org.uk/event/day-of-a…
And join our Saturday afternoon webinar to learn about communities fighting corporate courts around the world. We can turn the tide. This system is incompatible with the #ClimateAction we need. #NoISDSglobaljustice.org.uk/event/webinar-…
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New figures from @peoplesvaccine today show that Big Pharma monopolies are making vaccinating the world at least 5 times as expensive as it needs to be. “The most lethal profiteering in history” says @Anna_Marriott (1/5) #PeoplesVaccine
Pfizer & Moderna accused of overcharging by around $41billion. These corporations received over $8billion in public support, and could be making their drug for as little as $1.20 a dose. Covax has been paying 5 times that. (2/5) oxfam.org/en/press-relea…
Uganda just lost 50 health workers in one week. One dose of Pfizer costs what the country spends per citizen on healthcare over a year. (3/5)
Our new report shows why we can't trust Big Pharma to deal with #Covid_19 fairly. It’s an industry driven by sky high profits. While public money has produced vaccines in record time, those medicines have now been privatised! (1/12) globaljustice.org.uk/resources/horr…
Six of the biggest corporations in the #Covid_19 market generated $266 billion last year, with profits totalling $46bn. Johnson & Johnson is more wealthy than rich countries like New Zealand and Hungary. Pfizer’s revenues are bigger than oil-rich Kuwait or Malaysia. (2/12)
How have they got rich? We look at examples. Pfizer hiked the price of on anti-epilepsy drug on which 48,000 NHS patients relied. #NHS annual spend on the drug rose from £2mn to £50mn in a year. Pharmacies faced hikes of up to 2,600%! (3/12) gov.uk/government/new…
No compulsion for big banks or World Bank to write down debt. It’s all the responsibility of the debtor country, which in the current system has little power. Everything will be done to ensure as little debt is cancelled as possible. (2/5) g20.org/en/media/Docum…
On the day Zambia teeters on default this is pure ‘head in the sand’. Zambia spends 4x more on external debt than public healthcare. Meanwhile some ultra-rich bondholders could make up to 250% profit. (3/5) jubileedebt.org.uk/press-release/…
Global South countries tell the WTO: we must suspend trade rules on patents if we’re to deal with #COVID19. Rich countries reply: ‘no, no, you’ll be totally fine, don’t worry’. (1/7) keionline.org/34235
Britain – which has tried to undermine schemes to allow #Covid19 medicines for all – tells poorer countries that they are being ‘extreme’ in wanting to suspend patent monopolies. (2/7) gov.uk/government/new…
Britain says: ‘don’t worry we have global schemes to promote medicines for all’. India rightly replies, hang on a minute: rich countries have tried to weaken those schemes to the point that not a single Big Pharma company is participating. (3/7)
As Blackrock announce an 18% increase in 2020 revenue, and $7.8 *trillion* in assets, we release figures on how Blackrock and fellow banks are profiting from the #COVID19 debt crisis in Africa and beyond. #CancelTheDebt (1/9) globaljustice.org.uk/news/2020/oct/…
Today the G20 will extend debt relief in 2021, but this isn’t proper cancellation AND doesn’t include big banks who are raking it in. Lower income countries will pay $13 billion to rich investors by end 2020 (2/9) in.reuters.com/article/imf-wo…
This includes the richest banks and funds on the planet: Blackrock, HSBC, Goldman. Blackrock alone – with assets worth two and half times more than the GDP of all of #Africa - hold US$1 billion of bond debt in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia. (3/9)
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)