Amendment to the Health and Care Bill

STOPAIDS and the Missing Medicines coalition have been working with Baroness Shami Chakrabarti to table an amendment to the Health and Care Bill to improve access to vaccines and other medicines in pandemics and in normal times, for the NHS and patients around the world. Specifically the amendment seeks to ensures public benefits in exchange for public financing of research and development. It would require the Secretary of State to support public health flexibilities under the TRIPS Agreement and, in the event of a pandemic, domestic and international knowledge-sharing to combat the emergency through a temporary waiver of the TRIPS Agreement. You can read more in The Guardian article here.

In the article, our Advocacy Manager Saoirse Fitzpatrick says: “There is a growing realisation that if public money is funding the development of vaccines and medicines then there needs to be public stewardship over that process to make sure products are accessible and affordable at the end. And in cases where public money hasn’t played a role, we need to be using all the legal tools available to get access to those treatments and vaccines at the best possible price for the NHS and patients around the world.”

You can also listen to Baroness Chakrabarti’s appearance on Bloomberg Radio on the Bloomberg Westminster Podcast here.