ACCIONES

WE PUBLISHED A REPORT ON PUBLIC INVESTMENT

In April 2020, we published a report on public R&D&I investment in Covid-19 to raise awareness of the important contribution of public money during this public health emergency and to encourage the inclusion of criteria relating to the public interest and determining factors for funding, in order to ensure universal access to the resulting products such as vaccines or medicines.

From the end of 2020, we also started work on a second report focusing on access, functioning, and research and development into the different Covid-19 vaccines, for publication in 2021.

WE PROMOTED NON-LAW PROPOSITIONS (NLPS)

Advocacy work at congressional level was also a priority during 2020. In the current situation, our work individually and in coalition with other initiatives, such as No Es Sano, focused on two priorities: for Spain to join C-TAP, and for Spain to support the patent exemption. As a result of our work, two initiatives achieved remarkable results in Congress: the PSOE presented an NLP to support C-TAP and non-exclusivity during the pandemic, and Más País presented an NLP to support the TRIPS Exemption in the WTO.

OPEN LETTER TO WTO AND ITS MEMBER STATES

In April, we joined with dozens of international organizations to ask our governments that, in the context of this health crisis and under the current state of alarm, they should exempt themselves from certain limitations that, still today , prevent the import of medicines and health products under a compulsory license.

WE ANALYZE AN UNPRECEDENTED WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY

The 73rd annual meeting of the World Health Assembly was held in just two days -normally it lasts a week- and the representatives and leaders of the participating countries have done so electronically. The Assembly was focused on Covid19 and the response to the global health crisis. We rescued the most relevant issues on our website.

WE ASK THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO COOPERATE IN THE SEARCH FOR A VACCINE

In June, and faced with the threat of vaccine hoarding by rich countries, dozens of civil society organizations and opinion leaders sent an open letter addressed to the ministers of health emphasizing the need to adhere to a global and shared response, with free access to the knowledge generated and without exclusions or barriers that intellectual property may generate.

WE PUSHED FORWARD THE DEBATE ON CAR-T THERAPIES

Continuing the work we started in 2019 on public investment and drug pricing in the context of public CAR-T therapies, in September 2020 we organised the event Public CAR-Ts Today and in the Future, to highlight the value of non-commercial academic CAR-T therapies (that is, those developed in the public sphere such as universities and research centres) as affordable and true alternatives to commercial CAR-T therapies. More than 60 people attended the webinar, including journalists. The guest speakers were Patricia Lacruz, director general of pharmacy (Spain's Department of Health); Manel Juan, head of immunology department at the CBD-Hospital Clínic in Barcelona (Spain); Susana Rives, paediatric haematologist at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital (Spain) and Michael Schmitt, doctor and researcher in cellular immunotherapy at Heidelberg University Hospital (Germany). During the event we also screened the documentary about the development of the first public CAR-T in Spain that we had produced the previous year.

CLINICAL TRIALS IN SPAIN:  LACK OF TRANSPARENCY AND DUPLICATION IN COVID-19 RESEARCH

A report that we published together with UAEM Europe and TranspariMED shed light on various issues: for example, on the fact that many of the ongoing clinical trials study the same drug, or on the lack of transparency in the publication of data and results: Almost half (44%) of those who are mainly responsible for clinical trials in our country do not publish the results of their trials.

OPEN LETTER TO THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

More than 60 European organizations sent an open letter to the European Commission to ask that the treatments for coronavirus developed with a large amount of public money that was invested throughout the European Union should be accessible to all people who need them.

WE MET WITH GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS TO DISCUSS THE RESPONSE STRATEGY TO COVID-19

From the start of the pandemic, much of our work has focused on approaching the Spanish government with the aim of changing its position on intellectual property issues and, to this end, we have been in close contact with various government departments: the Departments of Health, Trade, Science and Foreign Affairs. Their response in the Joint Spanish Cooperation Response Strategy to the COVID-19 Crisis was positive: "Spain will be proactive in promoting intellectual property policies that aim to facilitate universal and equitable access and knowledge sharing, [...] especially when it comes to technologies derived from public money. It will promote platforms, repositories and alliances that facilitate global and transparent access to knowledge in order to facilitate the large-scale production, distribution, sale and use of technologies".

LETTER TO THE VACCINE ALLIANCE (GAVI)

In June, and in the days prior to a GAVI meeting, more than 40 organizations sent a letter to the board of directors to demand the urgent need for the agreements and mechanisms to be put in place in the ACT-Accelerator to develop and produce vaccines for COVID-19 and to make them safe, effective and affordable, available to those who need it most and allocated fairly.

WE JOINED THE PEOPLE'S VACCINE

We also worked at international level with civil society organisations from around the world as part of the international People's Vaccine alliance. We ran numerous initiatives - one of the main ones being the signing of an open letter along with 379 global organisations, asking WTO member states to support the adoption of the proposed patent suspension.

PHARMACEUTICAL POLICY: WE PARTICIPATED IN THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY

The European Commission published its pharmaceutical strategy in June 2020 and an online public consultation on the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe was launched. Salud Por Derecho responded to the public consultation. The main messages and key points were agreed in advance with the other civil society member organisations of the European Alliance for Responsible R&D and Affordable Medicines in order to provide a stronger voice during the consultation.

WE ENCOURAGED PUBLIC DEBATE THROUGH TALKS AND CONFERENCES

Salud Por Derecho has continued to hold workshops and talks to promote public debate at different levels, including in universities, with the aim of increasing participation levels. In 2020, within the context of Covid-19, all events have been adapted. They include:
- In September we took part in "Vaccines for Covid-19 SARS 2 - the need to resolve problems of accessibility and affordability by ensuring universal distribution", organised by the Association for Fair Access to Medicines.
- In September we took part in the online seminar "Patents during times of pandemic", organised by Menorca’s School of Public Health.
- In June we participated in the CEEM talks. This time, relating to the challenges in access to Covid-19.

WE INTERVIEW ANGELA RIBEIRO, FROM THE CSIC

After the outbreak of the pandemic, and in record time, the CSIC teams developed a rapid antibody test with 95% reliability. In addition, the technology was transferred to a Spanish company with a non-exclusive license, allowing other companies to produce and market it -if necessary- to meet demand at an affordable price. For this reason, in November, we interviewed Ángela Ribeiro, deputy vice president of Knowledge Transfer at the CSIC.

OPEN LETTER TO WHO AND ITS MEMBER STATES

Subsequently, more than 30 organizations and more than 30 personalities, we sent an open letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) and its member states about Costa Rica's proposal to create a common fund that collects rights over data, knowledge and useful technologies in the prevention, detection and treatment of the Covid-19 pandemic.

WE PROMOTED A TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF PATENTS

Much of our work has also been focused on supporting the temporary suspension of Covid-19 patents, as proposed by India and South Africa in 2020 at the WTO, and we have implemented related initiatives at national and international level.

In Spain, for example, we worked closely with Médecins Sans Frontières to ask the government to open a dialogue on exemption through different channels. We sent two letters to government departments and, in December, an open letter to Spain's prime minister, asking the government to support the exemption proposal or at least not to block it.

At the international level, we have also carried out numerous actions, among which this action stands out together with almost 400 civil society organizations from around the world.

WE INTERVIEW JUAN LUIS BELTRÁN, PRESIDENT OF THE NAVARRA TRANSPARENCY COUNCIL

Among our dissemination efforts we wanted to talk about transparency and its importance -especially in the health area- with one of the biggest experts in Spain, Juan Luis Beltrán, who left us headlines like this: «Transparency affects the health of the population".

WE JOINED RIGHT TO CURE

Salud Por Derecho also joined the European Right To Cure initiative to demand access to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments worldwide through technology sharing and restrictions on monopolies, transparency in regard to costs, public contributions, prices and contracts, and collective solidarity as opposed to private speculation. The initiative aims to collect one million signatures in Europe for consideration by the European Commission.

TRANSPARENCY: WE PUBLISHED A NEW REPORT ON CLINICAL TRIALS

Continuing the work done in 2019 on transparency, in June 2020 we published the report "Clinical research in Spain: a profile of clinical trials through their registration". The report highlights the gaps in transparency among clinical trials in Spain and proposes policy-level recommendations to make progress in this area. In addition, regulatory contacts were established with Spain’s Medicines Agency (AEMPS) and Department of Health. In line with this work, Salud Por Derecho also established a close collaboration with European organisations working on clinical trial transparency.

PARTICIPACIÓN EN REDES INTERNACIONALES

El trabajo en red es una de las principales líneas de acción de Salud por Derecho y en el ámbito de acceso a medicamentos resulta especialmente relevante. Desde Salud por Derecho hemos participado activamente en la  European Alliance for Responsible R&D and Affordable Medicines junto con sociedad civil europea. Asimismo, hemos participado en la red global de acceso a medicamentos y en las específicas latinoamericanas. Por último, la red de Health Action International, también ha sido un espacio de encuentro con sociedad civil global donde el intercambio de información y de experiencias ha contribuído a la cohesión del movimiento y a la reflexión en el ámbito de acceso a medicamentos.

WE WROTE TO THE GOVERNMENT ASKING FOR MEASURES TO BE IMPLEMENTED TO STRENGTHEN THE HEALTH SYSTEM

In April, we sent a letter to the government, which was promoted by No Es Sano and signed by some thirty organisations, calling for measures to strengthen the public health system. An increase in public health spending is needed to meet the needs of patients and to address the problems left by the cuts of recent years.

WE ISSUED OUR POSITION, FOLLOWING THE RECONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE'S PUBLICATION

After reading and analysing the document sent by the Reconstruction Committee's Healthcare and Public Health working group to Congress's plenary group to be voted on, and after reviewing the commitments approved by the parliamentary groups, we considered that the opinion was very lukewarm on issues that are key to our National Health System and that are included under Chapters 5 and 8 on R&D&I and pharmaceutical policy. We set out this position.

WE SENT THE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL PARTIES OUR PROPOSALS FOR ENSURING ACCESS TO VACCINES

At the beginning of the pandemic, the No Es Sano campaign sent the government and political parties a document entitled "Proposals to ensure access to vaccines, medicines and health materials" containing a package of proposals around pharmaceutical policy that involve a re-shaping of our public health system to defend the public interest and ensure access to medicines, vaccines and diagnostics without putting its sustainability at risk.

WE SPOKE OUT AGAINST THE SHORTAGES OF MEDICINES

To address the increasingly frequent and worrying issue of medicine shortages, a joint Salud Por Derecho/OCU report was produced and published in October 2020. The report analysed the situation and impact of medicine shortages in Spain and Europe, and offered policy recommendations to address shortages at national and European levels.

WE ASKED THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH FOR A COMPULSORY REMDESIVIR LICENSE

Following approval of the drug at a price that was far in excess of its production cost, and given the pandemic situation and with the enormous public investment that went into developing the antiviral, we asked the Department of Health, through No Es Sano, to apply a compulsory licence if it was clinically proven to be a useful alternative for some Covid-19 patients.

WE CONTINUED WITH OUR ADVOCACY WORK

Influencing policy continued to be one of the hallmarks of No Es Sano's work last year. The campaign organisations continued working with the political parties and presenting them with our proposals and the various pharmaceutical policy reports mentioned above. Before the pandemic began, we were also in Valencia, where we met with Amparo Esteban, the Valencian government's deputy director of pharmacy. And in September we organised an online meeting with Ana Prieto and Julio Naval, PSOE MPs who are on the Congress Health Committee.
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