Jeremy Corbyn vows to end rip-off drug prices and put 'public health before private profit'
1 min read
A Labour government would force drug firms to provide affordable medicines for the NHS by threatening to withdraw public funding for research projects, Jeremy Corbyn has declared.
The Labour leader said the party would also use compulsory licensing to ensure that "generic" versions of patented medicines were made available at a lower cost to the health service.
Mr Corbyn highlighted the case of a nine-year-old cystic fibrosis sufferer as an example of how reform of the system was needed.
He said Luis Walker is denied the drug Orkambi because the company that makes it refuses to sell the drug to the NHS for an affordable price.
"Luis, and tens of thousands of others suffering from illnesses like cystic fibrosis, hepatitis C, and breast cancer, are being denied life-saving medicines by a system that puts profits for shareholders before people’s lives," Mr Corbyn told the Labour conference in Brighton.
He added: "We will redesign the system to serve public health not private wealth using compulsory licensing to secure generic versions of patented medicines.
"We’ll tell the drugs companies that if they want public research funding, then they’ll have to make their drugs affordable for all.
"And we will create a new, publicly owned generic drugs manufacturer to supply cheaper medicines to our NHS – saving our health service money, and saving lives."
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