In a few months, treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 will reach hospitals. But some of us may not be able to afford them! This might happen because the EU Health Commissioner and national health ministers have not done anything to stop pharmaceutical companies from charging high prices to healthcare systems for the drugs they develop with our tax money.
Right now, the European Commission and our national governments are mobilising millions of euros of public funds to promote research to fight COVID-19. [1]
With high prices for drugs, as the virus infects millions in Europe, healthcare systems in wealthier countries like Germany or France may have to choose which citizens get the treatments, while lower-income countries may not be able to afford treatments at all. No one should be denied treatment, whether it’s the elderly, migrants, the poor or the unemployed.
The EU Health Commissioner and national health ministers must put conditions on all COVID-19 funding: Any medicine developed must be made affordable to healthcare systems. [2]
During this emergency, as decision makers are working from home, our online pressure is especially powerful. If thousands of us sign a massive petition and inundate their new places of work -- Email, Twitter and Facebook -- with messages, our leaders will see that citizens are watching their every move. Together let’s call on them to put public health before private profit.
Act now to save lives and make medicine and vaccines available to all
If we don’t intervene, companies that receive public money may get exclusive licenses to produce medicine, so that no one else can sell the same drugs or even get access to the medical knowledge required to produce them. This means pharmaceutical companies can charge excessively high prices, making it difficult for even the best healthcare system to buy enough drugs to make them available for everyone.
This has already happened in Europe for other life-saving medicine. The Gilead Sciences company - which came under fire for trying to get a patent on COVID-19 vaccines - has a monopoly on a drug to treat Hepatitis C with profits of over EUR 20 billion from this drug alone since 2013. [3] [4] They charge exorbitant prices to European healthcare systems for this drug, and far too many people are denied treatment for this reason. [5]
The corona crisis can help us create a model for the future: All future medicine developed with our public money needs to be affordable to our healthcare systems. Period.
It’s easy for the health commissioner and our health minister to stop companies exploiting this crisis. It’s up to us to give them a wake-up call.
Ensure everyone has access to medicine and vaccines
In the past, we’ve proven that our people power can make a difference in protecting our health: whether it's working to increase transparency around pesticides in our agriculture or stopping toxic air pollution from coal plants in Europe. [6] [7]
Today, we have the chance to use the coronavirus pandemic as a wake-up call for us all. Not only do we need to make any COVID-19 treatment affordable so we can take care of everyone, but we need to set the precedent that our health needs to take priority over profit.
To our health,
David, Giulio (Rome), and the entire WeMove Europe team
References:
[1] In the EU, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_440
In the UK, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-announces-new-funding-in-fight-against-spread-of-coronavirus
[2] https://medicinesalliance.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/COVID-19-RD-public-investments-March.pdf
[3] https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/2/robert_weissman_public_citizen_economy_coronavirus
[5] Gilead charges as much as €43,000 for one person’s 12-week treatment of sofosbuvir in Europe https://www.msf.org/msf-and-groups-call-end-gilead%E2%80%99s-hepatitis-c-drug-monopoly-europe-which-blocks-access
[6] https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/clean-up-air-pollution
[7] https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/glyphosate-austria-int-en