We have an unprecedented chance to champion a new alternative to our broken pharma system.

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Hi John,
We have an incredible opportunity to be part of the remaking of the pharmaceutical research and development system from the ground up. Right now, in South Africa, scientists are researching life-saving medicines, and sharing their knowledge freely with countries across the world in practical opposition to the current approach of big pharma’s jealous guarding of their know-how.

We have an unprecedented chance to champion a new alternative to our broken pharmaceutical system, and to help stop the monopoly profit-seeking that causes countless deaths. This September we have been invited to visit the scientists at South Africa’s mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub, which has successfully worked out how to make Covid-19 vaccine technology, and is now freely sharing this know-how with other countries across the world, allowing more countries to produce their own vital medicines.


** The South Africa mRNA technology transfer hub is a radically different approach to life-saving drugs than that promoted by big pharma.
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That’s why the big corporations hate it. And it’s why we’re doing everything we can to build political support for the hub. I’m writing to ask you to donate to help take a group of MPs and a well-respected journalist to South Africa to learn about the work of the scientists, and build support in the UK for this transformative model, which could fundamentally change how to meet global healthcare needs in a fair and sustainable way.

Can you donate today to help champion this progressive initiative?
Yes, I want to help ([link removed])
South Africa’s mRNA hub was created with support from the World Health Organisation in response to the shocking levels of vaccine inequality during the pandemic. They asked Moderna and Pfizer for help, but the corporations refused. So the scientists did it themselves and, within just a few months, they declared a breakthrough. There’s still much to do, but now the really radical bit of the project starts – sharing that knowledge freely with countries across the world. In other words, the hub is breaking new ground not just in science but in how a new model of global healthcare can work – one where the ultimate aim is to ensure access to medicines for the majority of people rather than maximising profits.

The hub is part of a wider knowledge-sharing initiative that aims to increase vaccine and drug-making capabilities across the world, so that it is no longer the most profitable drugs and vaccines that are prioritised, but rather the healthcare needs of people. This has long-term implications, because the technology used in the Covid-19 vaccine is ground breaking, and could form the basis of vaccines and drugs against many other diseases like HIV, malaria and tuberculosis that have a disproportionately negative impact on the global south. The hub is based in South Africa because just a tiny fraction of the vaccines and drugs that countries in Africa use are made on the continent, so this is where the need for the hub’s advances is greatest.


** In spite of its impressive achievements, the obstacles to the hub’s success are political. That’s where we can make a difference.
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The MPs we will visit the hub with are already interested in its work and passionately believe that there need to be alternatives to the current big pharma system. This trip would strengthen their ability to champion and gain political and public support for new initiatives like the hub in the UK, which has been a major obstacle to this kind of people-centred approach throughout the Covid pandemic.

Can you donate today to help promote better alternatives to the current big pharma model?
Yes, I want to help ([link removed])
We are planning our trip to coincide with the visit of a delegation of scientists from India who will be learning the technology. Being able to have the MPs and the journalist witness this information transfer first-hand will be vital to the impact of the trip. It will help make a stronger case for support in the media and counter opposition amongst their peers.

The travel, accommodation and the food for the participants from the UK, as well as paying a photographer and film maker in South Africa will cost a lot. Collectively we hope that Global Justice Now supporters will be able to contribute as much as possible to help fund this trip.

We need to do all we can to change the idea that a handful of massive western companies should own the world’s medicines, because this system leaves a huge number of people without the medicines they desperately need, so that a tiny minority of super-rich shareholders profit.

Can you donate today to fund this opportunity to help change the pharma system?
Yes, I want to help ([link removed])


** Fighting corporate power in the pharmaceutical system is important to all of us.
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We’re lucky to have free healthcare in the UK, but the incredible prices sought by big pharma put some medications out of reach of the NHS, or eat up huge swathes of the healthcare budget. The big pharma monopoly model is one of the pillars of our broken system that prioritises profits over people and planet, and it is this that our movement exists to counter.

By seeking a better global healthcare system, we are fighting back against the growing inequality across the world and the immense power big corporations have. Your donation today means we can get one step closer towards a fairer future.

With my best wishes,
Nick Dearden
Director of Global Justice Now

P.S. Together we can make sure this trip to South Africa is the best it can be – we can help champion progressive alternatives to our current pharma system, and we can highlight why those alternatives are so necessary ([link removed]) .
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