Good news: Pharma company Moderna changes course

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Hi John,

The battle to take on the entrenched power of big pharma is not an easy one but we believe that people acting in global solidarity creates pressure for change.

Last week, the US pharmaceutical company Moderna announced that it would not enforce patents on its Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic and would grant licenses for other suppliers to manufacture it after the pandemic. This means that Moderna is giving up on its monopoly during this crisis and allowing others to make their vaccine if it's successful.

Together with global campaigners, our supporters helped to pile on the pressure on Moderna last month to show that profiteering during a crisis is unacceptable. Together we exposed how corporate greed could lock up this vaccine through monopolies and our pressure has helped to force Moderna to change course.

This is a step in the right direction and it has set the bar for other companies to follow suit. More needs to be done and we will continue to call on Moderna as well as other pharmaceutical companies to commit to sharing the vaccine and the manufacturing know-how with the World Health Organisation. This will help other manufacturers scale up production to ensure everyone, everywhere can access effective vaccines.

What's next?

We will continue to campaign for a suspension to the global trade rules that prop up monopolies and attack the unfair rules at their source. Global trade rules impose powerful monopoly rights for big pharma. This artificially restricts supply and sustains high medicine prices allowing big pharma to profit and sell to the highest bidder. The governments of India and South Africa have put a proposal on the table of the World Trade Organisation to suspend the global trade rules that prop up big pharma monopolies. The suspension would last until widespread vaccination is in place globally.

Suspending these unjust rules would break up big pharma monopolies on Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, allowing as many suppliers as possible to maximise global supply so that everyone everywhere can access the health products needed to tackle Covid-19. The WTO is meeting this Thursday to discuss the proposal for the first time.

Take action and call on the UK to support this proposal

Thank you once again for your support for this campaign

Best wishes

Heidi Chow
Global Justice Now Campaigner

Help ensure that any Covid-19 vaccine is affordable for everyone, everywhere

We are campaigning for the government to attach conditions on all UK funding for a Covid-19 vaccine so that big pharmaceuticals don’t charge extortionate prices, and leave millions of people around the world unable to access it.

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