Rentierism and Big Pharma — with Nick Dearden
Channel: Crash Course
Date: 20/02/2024

In this episode we do a deep dive into the realm of Big Pharma. As with Big Tech, this industry epitomises large-scale rentier income extraction by corporations. Despite the industry's assertions that the costs associated with drug research and development justify high prices, the stark reality of profit margins unveils a different narrative.

06:00 The financialised Business Model 
08:59 Debt and Cash Holdings 
09:47 Intellectual property
12:05 Intellectual property business model
15:38 Business models
20:32 Winners of the pandemic
27:12 The EU 
29:46 Global system
32:11 IP Protection and right to health
38:39 What about the EU?
41:00 Spaces of Hope?
44:33 Monopoly Power
47:12 Antitrust legislation
49:03 Against Big Pharma and the far right
53:13 The system has eaten itself
55:44 Around the WTO
57:09 Too much profit

We will further ask Nick: 

* How did pharmaceutical companies transform over the past decades, and what implications does this have for the accessibility of medicines?
* What characterizes the business model of Big Pharma, and why should this be a matter of concern for us all?
* What is a pathway toward change in the pharmaceutical landscape? Which stakeholders should play a role, and what specific changes are imperative for progress?

For over 20 years Nick Dearden has been a campaigner against corporate globalisation and for global economic justice. He is also the director of the British NGO Global Justice Now. Last October, he published his latest book on the pharmaceutical industry: Pharmanomics. How Big Pharma Destroys Global Health. 

---

About Crash Course Economics

Crash Course is a platform designed to open up debate on how we can move out of the current crisis and make the necessary steps towards achieving social, economic, ecological and regenerative justice.

Crash Course is inviting global experts to break down complex issues in lay terms and make them accessible to all so that we can understand how to shape our economic system for a just recovery and future.

Website: https://crashcourseeconomics.org/
Newsletter: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/366770/110811319736730927/share
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu3cbKwed48Bu7dkQDVjRQA
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrashEconomics

Music credit: "Capital G" by Nine Inch Nails, "Tribal Remix" by Imnotlouis (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US)