CAMPAIGN NEWS
US pharma lobbying for higher drug prices During the general election campaign, Global Justice Now launched a new report, Pharma Trade Secrets, to expose the threat of higher drug prices through a US-UK trade deal. Our report revealed that the US pharmaceutical lobby are demanding greater ‘market access’ for their highpriced drugs from the deal, as well as longer periods of monopoly protection over the most advanced drugs, which would sustain high prices for longer. There has been a serious lack of transparency over the government’s discussions with US negotiators, but these demands were confirmed in the leaked trade papers during the general election (see pages 8-10). Our report also revealed that these demands were discussed in a lobby meeting between the then-trade minister, George Hollingbery, and the senior director of US drug giant Eli Lilly in August 2018. This secret meeting and our report were featured on the front page of the Daily Mirror in November, giving our trade and pharmaceutical campaigns significant media attention. Read the report at: globaljustice.org.uk/pharma-secrets
900,000 against corporate courts Over the past year, Global Justice Now has been campaigning with groups across Europe against corporate courts. Formally known as ISDS, these are a parallel legal system written into trade and investment deals that allow corporations to sue governments in secret. Around Europe, groups have been dragging shadowy corporate court cases into the light: • Here in the UK we joined with activists in Armenia to campaign around UK-registered mining company Lydian. Communities in Armenia have been blockading construction of a gold mine, and Lydian have threatened an ISDS case against the government for failing to crack down on the protests. • In Spain, activists protested outside banking giant BBVA which has been using corporate courts to attack the Bolivian government for renationalising its pension system. • In Germany, campaigners targeted energy firm Vattenfall which has sued the government twice, once over the introduction of new environmental regulations on coal power stations, and once over the phase-out of nuclear power. • Protests were held in five countries against Chevron. When Ecuadorian courts ordered Chevron to clean up pollution from oil drilling in the Amazon, Chevron counter-sued in a corporate court and won, subverting justice. Across Europe, more than 900,000 people have signed petitions saying corporate courts are fundamentally unjust and should not exist. We’ve protested against corporate courts in TTIP, in CETA and now we’ll take the drive to end corporate courts on in our campaign against the US-UK trade deal.
Solidarity protest outside the Armenian embassy in London.
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