The Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation released its new brief today on legislative measures that States can take to realise access to medicines for all. The focus is on the States’ obligations under international human rights law to protect the right to health (and access to medicines) from outside interference, for instance by pharmaceutical companies.
The brief explores how governments can create an enabling environment around access to medicines through stronger regulation of the pharmaceutical sector. It starts by outlining the human rights framework surrounding access to medicines, before mapping some of the issues in policy and legislation.
To solve these issues, governments can:
(1) mandate due diligence in the pharmaceutical sector
(2) implement the World Health Organisation’s 2019 transparency resolution
(3) use tort law to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable through the courts
(4) use competition law to fight anti-competitive practices
(5) safeguard against unethical lobbying practices.
The brief discusses important pending legislative proposals within the EU and in the Netherlands on mandatory due diligence and duty of care for all companies. Read the brief below:
The research for the policy brief was supported by the People’s Vaccine Alliance and Frontline Aids.