International

Medicines should be available at normal prices. That's why the SP today joined the Green Left and Labour Party (PvdA) in endorsing a plan to break the power of the pharmaceutical industry, as SP Member of Parliament Nine Kooiman explains: “ It's high time that we restricted the power of Big Pharma,” she insists. “Prices are sky-high, which puts the accessibility of medicines under pressure. At the same time ridiculously high profits are being made by the industry on drugs developed with public money. That's why our three parties are making a number of common proposals aimed at pegging back the power of the pharmaceutical industry, creating greater transparency and giving the state a bigger role in order to make medicines once again more affordable for everyone.”

With this plan the parties want to put an end to negotiation behind patients' backs, to Big Pharma's sky-high profits and shady back-scratching agreements. Then patients could get the medicines they need, the manufacturer would get a fair price for their products and the development of new medicines would be encouraged.

The SP, Green Left and PvdA have put forward twenty proposals to bring the market for medicines back to full health. These include:

• A ban on the endless extension of patents, so that medicines can be produced more cheaply.
• A National Pharmaceutical Research Fund to back independent medical research. Priorities for this research would be determined by the government and not by the pharmaceutical companies.
• Take action to prevent conflicts of interest between doctors and Big Pharma by containing aggressive marketing and by actively enforcing the ban on advertising.
• Introduction of compulsory licenses in cases where the pharmaceutical industry refuses to lower its absurdly high prices.
• Adaptation of the law governing medicines in order to better combat the industry's power.
• Put an end to secretive price negotiations.