Big pharma is at war with the UK, and the government can’t back down now | Nick Dearden

The industry has always wanted the NHS to pay more for its drugs; now it is pulling research and investment out of Britain

This year so far, some of the biggest pharmaceutical corporations in the world have withdrawn about 2bn in proposed investment from the UK. One has even threatened to withhold new medicines from NHS patients. Taken together, it's hard not to conclude that big pharma is at war with the UK.

Merck has scrapped a 1bn research facility, while AstraZeneca ditched a 450m vaccine lab and is rethinking an expansion of another research unit. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has cancelled 34 partnerships with the NHS in the last year, and Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Novartis are all believed to have put investments on hold". BMS is also threatening to play hardball with its new schizophrenia drug, saying it is prepared to make the difficult decision" to walk away" if the NHS won't pay the price the corporation wants to charge.

Nick Dearden is director of Global Justice Now (formerly World Development Movement)