• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blows the lid on big pharma’s public subsidy scam – and it’s the same in the UK too 

Joshua Funnell by Joshua Funnell
4 February 2019
in Global, Health, Other News & Features, Trending, UK
Reading Time: 3 mins read
164 8
A A
1
Home Global
321
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

One of America’s most radical congresspeople continues to make waves in Washington. And this time Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has taken aim at corporate titans in big pharma.

She pointed out one inconvenient truth for the ‘capitalist’ giants: why are publicly subsidised drug corporations allowed to privatise their profits and charge the public huge fees?

Pharmaceutical corporations: drugged on public money

Ocasio-Cortez has made a complicated issue extremely simple. She asked, if the American public is an “early investor” in the research and development of drugs, then why does it get no benefits in return?:

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1091439100589211648

Ocasio-Cortez received a great deal of praise for her questioning, including this moving account:

My first sustained activism was in fighting so that the public would benefit from publicly-funded scientific research.

12 years later, I'm dying from a disease with no cure because big pharma invests in ads not research.

I am grateful to you beyond words, @AOC & @RoKhanna. https://t.co/6iocCqmvM2

— Ady Barkan (@AdyBarkan) February 1, 2019

Others working in the industry shared their infuriating stories of a corrupt system:

100% @AOC. I specialize as a Grants Accountant. I worked for one of the top Cancer Research Companies preparing grant applications, for the scientist, to NIH. Government funds most of the research which is purchased, deeply discounted, by big pharma who then apply for patents. https://t.co/sTHvSCY383

— Amy Vilela (@amy4thepeople) February 1, 2019

The UK too?

But this issue isn’t exclusive to the United States. As argued in a joint report between STOP AIDS and Global Justice Now, the NHS is also being “ripped off” by British pharmaceutical companies. As the Independent wrote when summarising the report:

The NHS is spending millions of pounds on medicines that were discovered with taxpayer-funded research.

The UK is after all:

the second largest funder country of global health research and development after the US.

The Global Justice report also damningly showed that two of the NHS’s most expensive drugs were developed with substantial sums of public money. For example, the prostate cancer drug, Abiraterone, was:

developed by the primarily publicly funded Institute of Cancer Research and later bought by a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The advanced prostate cancer treatment was deemed too expensive for the NHS for years. The NHS now spends £98 per day per patient on the drug, despite a generic alternative being available for less than £11 per day per patient.

Such an extortionate system cripples the NHS. Between 2011 -2016 alone, the NHS spent 15% of its annual budget on drugs – which is more than its current spending deficit.

In essence, drug companies are selling back drugs to the public for huge profits that they have already paid to develop. The situation was described by Heidi Chow of Global Justice Now as “nothing short of daylight robbery of British taxpayers”.

A just alternative

As Labour’s shadow minister for industrial strategy Chi Onwurah argues:

When the public sector contributes, it gets a share of the rewards – this should be the principle at the heart of life sciences innovation.

And one Twitter user gave another simple solution to the problem:

Drugs funded by government research grants should not be eligible for private patent applications.

— Jamie Aziz (@AzizJamie) February 1, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez raised an issue that is important both in the US and the UK. And it begs the question – if the state can fund and develop drugs, why not take them out the private sector completely? Medicine should be a human right, not an opportunity to financially exploit the sick.

Featured image by YouTube, YouTube and 401(K) 2012/Flickr

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

Labour NEC member pulls no punches in denouncing Western-backed coup in Venezuela

Next Post

A Scottish MSP lambasts the UK government’s ability to ‘police the arms trade’

Next Post
Patrick Harvie questions Nicola Sturgeon in Holyrood over Raytheon support

A Scottish MSP lambasts the UK government's ability to 'police the arms trade'

Woman with tape over mouth

The new university free speech guidelines are tackling a problem that doesn't exist

Jeremy hardy

Moving words show that Jeremy Hardy never stopped speaking truth to power

Steve Topple with guests from episode 12

CanaryPod: Topple Uncaged EP12

Theresa May

Gotcha! A QC claims Theresa May is bang to rights under the Bribery Act 2010

Please login to join discussion
Jeremy Corbyn
Analysis

Jeremy Corbyn suggests a new party will be in place before 2026 elections

by Ed Sykes
21 May 2025
Donald Trump tax and debt
Analysis

Trump’s tax breaks for his rich mates could add $3 trillion to US national debt

by Steve Topple
21 May 2025
Co-op Israeli products
Trending

Pressure rises on Co-op board to follow through on boycott of Israeli products

by Ed Sykes
21 May 2025
Liz Kendall dodging a question about DWP cuts
Trending

Watch as Liz Kendall scurries away from a disabled person calling out DWP cuts

by Steve Topple
21 May 2025
Liz Kendall talking about DWP PIP cuts
Analysis

Liz Kendall just lied again about how many people will be hit by DWP PIP cuts

by Steve Topple
21 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

Jeremy Corbyn
Analysis
Ed Sykes

Jeremy Corbyn suggests a new party will be in place before 2026 elections

Donald Trump tax and debt
Analysis
Steve Topple

Trump’s tax breaks for his rich mates could add $3 trillion to US national debt

Co-op Israeli products
Trending
Ed Sykes

Pressure rises on Co-op board to follow through on boycott of Israeli products

Liz Kendall dodging a question about DWP cuts
Trending
Steve Topple

Watch as Liz Kendall scurries away from a disabled person calling out DWP cuts

ADVERTISEMENT
Analysis
Nathan Spears

Vote for the Press Photograph of the Year 2024

Image by Burkard Meyendriesch from Pixabay
Feature
Nathan Spears

Why Santiago Ways is the Leading Choice for Walking the Camino de Santiago

Environment
Nathan Spears

EU elections point to growing public desire for new policymaking approach in Brussels