Trump and Big Pharma’s demands that NHS pays billions more for medicines sparks three petitions signed by 300,000 Brits demanding the UK government stands firm
Hundreds of thousands of Brits have signed petitions demanding the Government protect the NHS from drug price hikes demanded by Donald Trump.
Three petitions are being handed in at Westminster on Monday signed by 300,000 people after reports emerged the UK is offering to increase NHS price thresholds by 25%. It comes after President Trump threatened tariffs on Britain if the NHS didn’t pay more and pharmaceutical giants then halted investment into the UK saying they wanted to be paid higher prices.
The Government has confirmed it is in “advanced discussions” with the US but there are warnings its deal would see the NHS paying billions more for drugs and mean patients waiting longer for treatment.
READ MORE: Donald Trump deal to make NHS pay more for medicines will ‘harm UK patients’READ MORE: ‘Donald Trump and Big Pharma are holding the NHS to ransom – don’t give in’
The NHS in England currently pays around £20 billion a year for its medicines and experts insist more spent on them will mean reduced funding for things like staff and beds.
The three petitions will be handed in to the Department of Health and Social Care by campaign group 38 Degrees.
Matthew McGregor, chief executive at 38 Degrees, said: “The Government is currently sitting across the negotiating table from Big Pharma reps, but they need to remember who’s standing behind them – 300,000 angry voters who reject Trump’s bullying trade threats. Over a quarter of a million members of the public are clear, the Government must reject demands for higher prices for vital NHS medicine.”
The collective bargaining power of the NHS means it has historically been able to negotiate much cheaper prices than private hospitals in the US. President Trump says Americans pay as much as four times more for medicines than in countries with nationalised healthcare systems like Britain.
The Mirror reported on Saturday warnings from international NGOs that Donald Trump and Big Pharma are “holding Britain to ransom” on drug pricing. Global Justice Now called on the Government not to cave in to Trump’s threats and blow a hole in NHS finances amid fears the health service could “go broke”.
The three petitions demand that the Government:
- Defend the NHS from greedy US price hikes and ensure affordable drug prices are maintained.
- Protect the NHS from US healthcare companies by committing to never include the NHS or its current drug pricing system in trade deals with the US.
- Stand up to Trump’s attacks on the NHS, including his use of trade threats.
Global Justice Now, alongside other NGOs the Balanced Economy Project and Just Treatment, had written to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) calling for it to investigate potential cartel-like behaviour from Big Pharma. The CMA ruled there was “no direct evidence of collusion” after pharma giants threatened to pull out of pause investment into Britain en masse.
Diarmaid McDonald, director of Just Treatment, said: “This is daylight robbery of the NHS. It’s a clear attempt to shake down the UK taxpayer for as much money as possible and will take precious funds away from other vital NHS care and send it into the pockets of rich pharma executives.
“These companies and Donald Trump don’t care about the NHS. They don’t care about NHS patients. It’s really important that the UK government doesn’t give into this bullying.
“Instead we need to focus on building alternative systems for producing and developing medicines that make the most of the brilliant British science and our amazing NHS. t’s time we develop a truly pro-public health-focused medical innovation system and stop being held to ransom by these profit hungry companies and autocratic foreign leaders.”
British firm AstraZeneca last week announced it was raising its planned investment in one of its US manufacturing sites to £3.3 billion as part of a commitment to bring critical medicine production into the country. The company, as well as Lilly and Merck, paused more than £1.3 billion of investment into Britain in the last year in its dispute over NHS value for money thresholds.
Merck scrapped a £900 million research and development centre it had started building in Britain. AstraZeneca then paused a £170 million investment in its Cambridge research site. This all came after the January cancellation of a planned new £390 million vaccine production centre in Speke, Liverpool. Eli Lilly now says it is waiting to finalise its investment in a Lilly Gateway Labs site in Britain.
An industry figure with knowledge of the proposed 25% increase deal told Politico : “We have kicked up enough of a stink and they have given in. This is the price you have to pay post-Trump for global pharma to continue to play in the UK.”
READ MORE: Donald Trump’s incorrect autism comments ‘pose a risk to patient safety in UK’READ MORE: Donald Trump’s autism claim debunked after paracetamol warning to pregnant women
Previous research published in the Lancet concluded the NHS drugs “value for money” threshold, set by regulator the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), is already too high. Experts say when the NHS pays more for drugs it has less money to spend on capacity like equipment, doctors and nurses.
Liz Pfiester, an NHS patient and Just Treatment campaigner, said: “As someone living with type 1 diabetes who used to live in the US, I have seen how catastrophic it is for patients when governments put the interests of pharmaceutical companies above all else.
“Trump’s deeply flawed “logic” is that he can lower drug prices in the US if he forces them up elsewhere. But big pharma companies will continue to find ways to take advantage where they can, and I have seen first-hand that pharma’s number one priority is always their ever-growing profits.
“At some point a line has to be drawn. The UK government must stand firm in the face of Trump and big pharma’s threats.”
Trump has threatened to slap tariffs of up to 100% on pharmaceutical imports if countries like the UK do not pay more for drugs. Such a tariff would be devastating for the UK’s own pharmaceutical industry so the Government is negotiating hard to find a solution.