BRIGHTON, England, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Britain's opposition
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn pledged on Tuesday to reform
the pharmaceutical market to force drug companies to produce
generic versions of new medicines and give the state a greater
role in research and production.
Corbyn announced the policy in his address to Labour's
annual conference, part of a wave of planned reforms the party
hopes will help them win an early election, which is expected to
be called in the coming months.
"We will redesign the system to serve public health - not
private wealth - using compulsory licensing to secure generic
versions of patented medicines," Corbyn said in his speech
"We’ll tell the drugs companies that if they want public
research funding then they’ll have to make their drugs
affordable for all," he added.
Labour would also create a new publicly owned generic drugs
manufacturer to supply cheaper medicines to the National Health
Service, he said.
A separate Labour briefing document said the party expected
its reforms to be opposed by the industry, and acknowledged the
changes were complex and risky.
But it said the potential savings from the shift away from
the current monopolistic model of research and development
outweighed any associated costs, and that an overall R&D
spending increase would dissuade manufacturers from pulling out
of the UK market.
"Making the case for an expanded role of the state does not
negate the participation of the private sector, but rather
redefines its role," the document said.
"By changing the incentives to innovate, by setting
conditions on public investment and increasing the role of the
public sector in overseeing the production of medicines, we can
maximise the public value of private-sector contributions."
(Reporting by William James; editing by Stephen Addison)