STAT Plus: U.K.’s Corbyn promises to form a government-owned drug company to lower prices
In a potential challenge to the pharmaceutical industry, Jeremy Corbyn promised that if his opposition Labour Party took control in the U.K., he would form a government-owned drug company to supply the National Health Service with lower-cost generics.
“We will redesign the system to serve public health – not private wealth,” he told a party conference on Tuesday. “We’ll tell the drug companies that, if they want public funding, then they’ll have to make their drugs affordable for all. And we will create a new publicly owned generic drugs manufacturer to supply cheaper medicines to our NHS, saving our health service money and saving lives.”
