Deadly prices
Confidential agreements and medicines out of reach for millions. This investigation goes inside Europe’s secret drug pricing system, revealing a world of opaque deals and unequal access.
June 2024
“Where you live should not determine whether you live or die,” said EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides last year. However, millions of Europeans lack access to medicines that save or prolong lives in other European countries. The investigation reveals that in six EU countries one in four of 32 important medicines analysed is missing.
Why is that? Not least because they are priced out of reach. These are two of the findings in our new investigation into pricing and access to medicines in Europe.
Some news is great: the pharmaceutical pipeline is bursting with new therapies that seem like gamechangers. They give new hope to cancer patients who were losing it. Some offer substantially better quality of life to children born with rare and painful diseases.
But the promises come with a price that make such drugs unattainable for many. Public pharmaceutical budgets, too, are buckling under the double weight of rising expectations from desperate patients and galloping prices that pharmaceutical producers demand for their innovations.
But only industry has all the facts. For the past 15 years, a blanket of secrecy has been laid over the vast European pharmaceutical market. Companies approach countries separately to offer new drugs with a discount, provided they never tell any other country what that rebate is.
- Why do our governments accept being kept in the dark about the true monetary value of a medicine?
- Why does the EU not use its muscles to negotiate medicine prices on behalf of all Europeans, like it did for the covid vaccines?
- Why has the regulator for market access of medicines, the European Medicines Agency, lowered the scientific thresholstad for allowing new drugs to be sold?
- Where do the bumper profits made by big pharma really end up?
- Are pharmaceutical firms using patient groups and charities for their own corporate interests?
- How come the pharmaceutical industry is developing loads of highly advanced precision drugs for small patient groups, but hardly addresses our common, growing threat of antimicrobial resistance?
- Medicines should be a human right for all, not primarily one of the world’s most lucrative businesses. What could such a system look like?
The investigation, Deadly prices: how big pharma feeds inequality in Europe, is released from today with media partners in 20 countries across Europe. You will find the series published on our English website and with our media partners below. In addition, important stories will be published in German, French, Italian and Spanish.
More from Deadly prices
Publications
How Big Pharma preys on poor countries – and patients pay the price
OpenDemocracy, UK
17 July 2024
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15 July 2024
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Pharmakonzerne horten Milliarden in Steueroasen, während Patienten um ihr Leben kämpfen
Der Standard, Austria
7 July 2024
De la transparencia a la investigación pública: cómo lograr que los fármacos sean un derecho y no un negocio
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7 July 2024
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1 July 2024
Quince multinacionales farmacéuticas disponen de más de 1.300 filiales en paraísos fiscales
infoLibre, Spain
29 June 2024
Pharma firms maximise profits in Ireland as patients struggle with drug prices
The Journal, Ireland
28 June 2024
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25 June 2024
Las farmacéuticas se resisten a crear nuevos antibióticos mientras Ucrania dispara el temor a una crisis sanitaria
infoLibre, Spain
25 June 2024
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Investigace.cz, Czech Republic
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Klassekampen, Norway
22 June 2024
Wie die Pharmaindustrie Europas Arzneimittelbehörde EMA beeinflusst
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21 June 2024
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Klassekampen, Norway
18 June 2024
Las puertas giratorias funcionan sin obstáculos en la Agencia Europea de Medicamentos
infoLibre, Spain
17 June 2024
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Il Fatto Quotidiano, Italy
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Il Fatto Quotidiano, Italy
17 June 2024
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Il Fatto Quotidiano, Italy
17 June 2024
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Il Fatto Quotidiano, Italy
17 June 2024
La guerra dei farmaci e il sistema segreto dei prezzi: gli accordi imposti da ‘Big Pharma’.
Il Fatto Quotidiano, Italy
17 June 2024
Big Pharma influence hangs over Europe’s medicines regulator
EUobserver, Belgium
17 June 2024
La Agencia Europea de Medicamentos recibe casi la mitad de sus ingresos de 21 grandes farmacéuticas
infoLibre, Spain
16 June 2024
Kunnen we onze medicijnen nog wel vertrouwen?
Trouw, Netherlands
16 June 2024
La Audiencia Nacional avala la batalla de Sanidad para impedir que se conozca el precio real de los fármacos
infoLibre, Spain
15 June 2024
Pengene eller livet
Klassekampen, Norway
15 June 2024
Európa a gyógyszeripar markában
Partizán, Hungary
14 June 2024
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Delfi, Latvia
14 June 2024
Vertailu: Tärkeiden syöpälääkkeiden saatavuudessa on valtavia eroja Euroopan sisällä
Yleisradio Oy , Finland
14 June 2024
Begehrte Medikamente, hohe Preise: So laufen Europas geheime Pharma-Deals
Der Standard, Austria
14 June 2024
TAPVAD HINNAD | Raskelt haiged vajavad uusi ülikalleid ravimeid, mis võivad teha imet. Eesti ei suuda neid kinni maksta
Eesti Ekspress, Estonia
14 June 2024
TAPVAD HINNAD | Oled vait või maksad rohkem: ravimifirmad sunnivad valitsusi salatsema, et oma ravimeid kallimalt müüa
Eesti Ekspress, Estonia
14 June 2024
Tödliche-Preise: Der ungleiche Zugang zu Medikamenten in der EU
arte journal, France/Germany
13 June 2024
Europe: la santé hors de prix
arte journal, France/Germany
13 June 2024
Tödliche Preise – Ungleicher Zugang zu lebenswichtigen Medikamenten in der EU
Deutschlandfunk, Germany
13 June 2024
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tagesschau24, Germany
13 June 2024
Lauterbachs Pharmagesetz: Milliardengeschenk für Konzerne?
Das Erste, Germany
13 June 2024
Zahl oder stirb
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany
13 June 2024
Tödliche Preise: Wenn der Wohnort darüber entscheidet, wer Krebs überlebt
Der Standard, Austria
13 June 2024
Werden Arzneimittelpreise zum Geheimnis?
Tagesschau, Germany
13 June 2024
Kalju Kivi sai uue lootuse kallist ravimist: muidugi on mul veel unistusi
Eesti Ekspress, Estonia
13 June 2024
Gyvybės kaina (I): nuo mirties gelbstintys vaistai metais stringa Lietuvos biurokratijos gniaužtuose, viceministras siūlo nedramatizuoti
15min-lit, Lithuania
13 June 2024
Cystic fibrosis ‘miracle’ drugs priced higher for poorer EU countries
The Journal, Ireland
13 June 2024
Pieniądze albo życie. Międzynarodowe śledztwo dziennikarskie pokazuje ciemną stronę Big Pharmy
Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland
13 June 2024
La bolsa o la vida: las negociaciones secretas que imponen en Europa las farmacéuticas
infoLibre, Spain
13 June 2024
El fármaco milagro contra la fibrosis quística por el que pagan un precio más caro países con menos recursos
infoLibre, Spain
13 June 2024
Alarmantes lagunas en la disponibilidad de medicamentos innovadores en la UE
infoLibre, Spain
13 June 2024
Medicine dealers: Europe’s secret drug negotiations
EUobserver, Belgium
13 June 2024