Comhlámh’s Access to Medicines: Corbyns proposals “major moment in a wave of reform”

Raising the case of Luis Walker, Jeremy Corbyn said “Yesterday I met Luis Walker, a nine-year-old boy who is living with cystic fibrosis. Every day he needs at least four hours of treatment and is often in hospital, keeping him from school and his friends. Luis’s life could be very different with the aid of a medicine called Orkambi. But Luis is denied the medicine he needs because its manufacturer refuses to sell the drug to the NHS for an affordable price.“

Comhlámh member group ‘Access To Medicines’ have welcomed proposals set out by the UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn.  At the annual party conference Corbyn launched Labour’s plans to “public health before private profit” aiming to challenge rampant profiteering and inequality around access to medicines.   

The party plans mirror similar ideas elsewhere as noted by the group. We asked Acess to Medicines and Diarmuid McDonald, lead organiser with Just Treatment – a grassroots patient campaigning group cited in the policy document Labour published yesterday – for their reactions

In welcoming the proposal, Robbie Lawlor from Access to Medicines said

“The significance of the policy is that it’s so comprehensive – covering all the areas of reform that the Access to Medicines movement has proposed, plus this new idea of a publicly-owned generic medicines manufacturer – and it’s now the policy of the main opposition party in the UK.

”The report also has an interesting section on ‘Building a Wider Movement’ where it mentions similar policies by Sanders and Warren in the US, Dutch efforts to reform the system in Europe, mentions Ireland among the countries aiming for reform. It the role of trade union and patient activists, and references Professor Mariana Mazzucato and Diarmaid McDonald’s Just Treatment – both of whom are close allies of Access to Medicines Ireland. 

“So, in a sense, this is a major moment in a wave of reform across the Global North in which Access to Medicines Ireland has played its part – picking up on the momentum that was made in the Global South before that. .”


this is a major moment in a wave of reform across the Global North in which Access to Medicines Ireland has played its part .

Speaking to Comhlámh today Diarmaid McDonald lead organizer with Just Treatment, a grassroots campaign group in the UK and close ally of Access to Medicines said.

“In their announcement yesterday, Labour acknowledged the reality facing most European countries – the prices of medicines are rising at an unsustainable rate and governments need to take action if we are to safeguard patient access and future medical innovation. As the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and other EU countries take similar steps, Ireland needs to do reflect on how we will cope with this new reality. We urge the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health to consider the breadth and vision of the Labour proposals and come up with a matching set of proposals of their own. This is a landmark moment that I hope will inspire many others to follow. ”


This is a landmark moment that I hope will inspire many others to follow.”