Help fight drug costs

MONDAY was World Cancer Day, a disease that affects us all, yet high drug prices are putting pressure on NHS budgets and leaving people across the world unable to afford life-saving medicines.

Globally, millions of people die every year because they cannot afford the medicines they need and even the NHS has had to ration vital medicines because of their high price.

It is claimed that in 2017/18 big pharma charged the NHS £1.1bn for the five most expensive cancer medicines. For a struggling health service, that’s an outrageous amount of money. Yet three of these drugs were developed through public investment. We are paying twice for medicines we helped develop.

And it’s not just cancer treatments; where there is suffering to be exploited, drugs companies do so.

Patients and the NHS suffer as pharmaceutical companies line their pockets off the back of expensive medicines. Some cancer drugs have been so expensive in the past that the NHS couldn’t afford them. This has left patients crowdfunding to pay for treatment. It’s unacceptable.

The Missing Medicines coalition (a network coalition of UK organisations fighting for affordable medicines globally) propose alternatives to an unjust system that prioritises profit over health needs.

Its website helps people contact their MP , asking them to raise the issue with their party leadership.

Politicians are big on sympathy but can show their commitment to making medicines affordable by writing it into their party manifestos.

If you believe in justice, have been touched and want to take action, or want to find out more, visit http:// missingmedicines.co.uk J. Pleasance, M20