Hi John,
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Our latest research exposing big pharma’s £12 billion excess profits just hit the news – and the pharmaceutical lobby is not happy about it! If we win this campaign to end corporate control over medicines, it’s going to be a huge loss for greedy executives. But a huge win for people and health services around the world finally being able to access the medicines they need.
Now is the time to give our pharmaceuticals campaign the push it needs to succeed. Around the world, despite public funding for research and development of medicines, prices for vital drugs are being dictated by pharma giants and are pushing healthcare services including the NHS to the limit. We need to make sure decision makers start building a pharma system that puts lives before profits.
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So, I’m following up on my email from a few weeks ago to ask you if you can support our work with a donation of £3 today? Your donation could help the campaign get the attention it needs by funding new research, activist stunts, MP briefings and getting in the media.
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With your backing we can fight for the structural changes needed to put people first. Here is our five point plan for a fairer pharmaceutical system:
- Break big pharma’s patent monopolies and support better ways of rewarding innovation
- Share medicine-making technology with lower income countries so all countries can make the drugs they need
- Put conditions on publicly funded research to stop big pharma buying up these medicines and selling them back to the public for eye-watering profits
- Invest in making medicines the world needs most, not just the ones that make the highest profits
- Build up publicly controlled medicines research and manufacturing to ensure the right to health for all
The dire consequences of big pharma’s endless greed have not gone unnoticed. Campaigners, scientists and some decision makers are fighting back. In India, campaigners recently won a major battle to ensure a key tuberculosis drug will now be affordable, and in the US President Biden has taken action to drastically reduce the cost of insulin for diabetes patients. Even here in the UK the tide is turning, as the government seems ready to stand up to big pharma’s demands to add a whopping £2.5 billion to the NHS’ annual medicines bill.
Like never before, we’re seeing a global shift away from corporations monopolising medicines, and decision makers are admitting that corporate control of medicines must change.
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Will you help us take this opportunity to expose big pharma’s greed and bring more decision-makers on board? With your support we can continue to highlight the failings of the current system in the media, raise awareness through talks and briefings, and mobilise people online to take action.
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Along with allies all over the world we are fighting for a system that would make medicines affordable and accessible for all. It’s time for our government to join in this force for change.
With your help we can strengthen the movement and make sure people’s lives come before corporate profits.
In solidarity
Tim Bierley
Pharmaceuticals campaigner at Global Justice Now
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P.S. In case you missed it, my first email is below.
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Original emailÂ
Hi John,
A few weeks ago a crisis-stricken NHS turned 75. With multiple pressures including the threat of corporations seeking to profit, many of us are worried this could be its last big birthday. But the situation might not be terminal – if we act now.Â
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Our latest research shows that big pharmaceutical companies have extracted up to £12 billion from the NHS over the last decade by overcharging for the 10 most costly drugs – all for the sake of lining the pockets of shareholders. These corporations are allowed to charge extortionate prices on medicines in the UK as well as in the rest of the world because of unfair patent laws. We need to change this!
If we want to secure a future for the NHS and ultimately access to medicines globally, we need to raise awareness amongst decision-makers urgently by turning this issue into one they can’t ignore. Media outreach, local talks, online petitions and activism stunts are all crucial for the campaign to succeed. But we need help to fund all of this work.
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Can you donate £3 today to give our work against big pharma greed the push it needs to succeed?
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Big pharmaceuticals are raking in the profits at the expense of people’s lives. We estimate that one company, Celgene, has been selling its cancer drug to the NHS at a markup of a shocking 2,300%.Â
Big pharma justifies its pricing by saying medicines are expensive to research and produce. But what they are not telling you is that medicines are often developed through public funds – paid for by people like you and me.Â
Because of governments leaving so much to the market, big pharmaceuticals are getting away with buying up medicines developed through public funding, stopping other companies from making them, and adding an extortionate profit margin when they sell them to public health services around the world.Â
Our next step for the campaign is to demand more public control over the medicines we pay for. This means fair prices, sharing science, and taking power back from big pharma – so that pharmaceutical giants can no longer hold health services to ransom. But we need your help to make this happen!
Can you donate today to support our campaign so we can urgently raise the need for action with decision-makers?
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If we want new, breakthrough medicines to benefit all of us, we need to put a stop to big pharma’s endless profiteering and take control of medicines which, very often, public money has already helped to create.
We need to make this the next big thing on decision-makers’ agenda – urgently. Together, we can make this happen.Â
- £30 could help us write an opinion piece for a national newspaper, exposing a pharmaceutical company for its greedy overpricing
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- £50 could help produce a campaign briefing on how the current system isn’t working and what needs to change, shifting our government’s position
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- £100 could go towards a book launch tour for Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden’s new book ‘Pharmanomics’, organised together with our local activists around the country
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- £500 could help us produce in-depth research on how corporations are massively overcharging the NHS to prove to MPs we need a change.
We understand that not everyone will be able to donate due to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. So if you are able to, that makes your donation work even harder.Â
Thank you for taking a stand for a more just world.Â
In solidarity,Â
Tim Bierley,Â
Pharmaceuticals campaigner at Global Justice Now
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P.S. If we want to secure a future for the NHS and ultimately access to medicines globally, we need to increase the pressure on decision-makers to take action against big pharma. Please consider donating to the campaign today.
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