In her opinion piece in Trouw, global health advocate Ella Weggen explains why pension funds should not invest in pharmaceutical companies that are not transparent about the prices of their medicines. ‘My message to pension funds is: talk with pharmaceutical companies about transparency and fair pricing of medicines. Otherwise, do not invest in them,’ she says.
The soaring prices of medicines in the Netherlands is putting increasing pressure on access to health care. This will not change as long as pharmaceutical companies are free to determine these prices with considerable profit margins, without being fully transparent about the true research and development (R&D) costs. Investors in these companies, such as pension funds, therefore are in the unique position to influence them.
‘As long as pharmaceutical companies are not transparent about the R&D costs of their medicines, and don’t focus on truly fair pricing, then pension funds should not invest in them,’ she says in her article.
Read more in our Dutch article, or read the opinion article in Trouw.
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