The Socialist 17 July 2013

All strike together!

'We've had enough' - All strike together!

Urgent - trade unions must build a political voice for the working class

Fire cuts, pay cuts, pension cuts, job cuts

MPs' pay to rise to £74,000...

Another drugs company scam

G4S tagging scandal: another failure of privatisation

Them & Us

USA: Zimmerman, Trayvon and racism

'Black July' - Sri Lanka 1983 and the beginning of civil war

End violence against women!

The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs

Lecturers in Wales expose working conditions

Victory for teachers at UEL

Equinox workers strike again

Fight Royal Mail privatisation!

Workplace news in brief

Greens rejected in Brighton

Bedroom tax non-payment soars in Scotland: Stop evictions

Councils: Don't do the Con-Dems' dirty work!

'Sick Of Your Boss?' week of action reports

Durham Miners' Gala shows mood for new party

Campaigning against anti-LGBT bullying in schools

Lincolnshire - save our libraries

Building the Socialist Party

Who are the real criminals?

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Another drugs company scam

Up to £100 million has been stolen from the public purse by profit-hungry pharmaceutical companies according to the British Medical Association (BMA).

A 'legal loophole' that allows drugs to be "flipped" between one company and another can push up the price of drugs by up to 2,000%.

Companies can sell on medicines used by the NHS to companies that are not included in the government's price-regulation scheme, who can then simply change the name of the drug and massively increase the price.

The NHS is scammed out of more and more money for the same products - potentially leading to the NHS being priced-out of using particular treatments.

The worst example is a drug previously called Epanutin and costing 67p per 50mg, now called Phenytoin and costing £16 per 50mg.

The drug is prescribed to about 100,000 sufferers of epilepsy and the price increase will mean an extra £50 million cost to the NHS.

The BMA is calling for the legal loophole to be closed - this must be done immediately. But this isn't the first or only scandalous practice by multinational pharmaceutical companies that's bleeding the NHS dry.

It was recently revealed that 14 hospital trusts are said to be failing. The government is demanding £20 billion of 'efficiency savings' from the NHS.

Surely the biggest efficiency saving would be to cut off the billions of pounds given to corrupt drug companies who only have an interest in profit, not healthcare.

The pharmaceutical companies should be nationalised under democratic working class control and management so that NHS workers and patients can decide what medicines are needed and scrutinise practices and pricing.

We demand a fully funded healthcare system freed from the iron grip of private vultures.

Join the national demonstration outside the Tory Party conference, called by the North West TUC and backed by the national TUC, Unite and Unison in Manchester on Sunday 29 September. Join the NSSN contingent on the demo to demand a 24-hour general strike.

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Socialist Party news and analysis

'We've had enough' - All strike together!