Taking public control of medicines

Type: Campaign briefings
Date: 29 November 2018
Campaigns: Pharma

The pharmaceutical industry makes billions in profits from charging high prices for medicines. Meanwhile, people suffer and die from treatable conditions because they can’t afford extortionate prices. This is a system driven by corporate profit that leaves vital medicines out of reach for millions of people – in the UK and around the world. It’s a system that is economically and socially unsustainable and needs urgent reform.

This briefing explains the problems of the current system and outlines the actions that the government could take today to address the immediate symptoms but also proposes policies that could transform the system. Medicines should be accessible for all and democratically controlled in the interest of public health.