New article in Health Affairs Forefront by our research director Sarah Karlin-Smith: Why Medicare Must Negotiate Drug Prices At Launch www.citizen.org/news/medicar...

Medicare Should Negotiate Drug Pricing at Launch to Avoid Big Pharma Gouging - Public Citizen

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Medicare must negotiate drug prices at launch to ensure that patients and health programs get fair prices…

citizen.org

Sarah Karlin-Smith@sarahkarlin-smith.bsky.social · 2w ago

Negotiating prices at launch creates more equity among Medicare beneficiaries, ensuring that people who need a drug earlier in the product’s lifecycle are not disproportionately bearing the costs of a medicine. www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...

The Trump admin has signed data-sharing agreements about global health with more than 30 countries, refusing to make them public until at least 2027. We need transparency BEFORE a deal is signed, not years after.

Thanks @fastlerner.bsky.social and @annamaria.bsky.social for speaking with us about the Trump admin’s unprecedented demands for data access in exchange for global health funding. Our new analysis of the few publicly-available health agreements: www.citizen.org/wp-content/u...

ProPublica@propublica.org · 2mo ago

NEW: Across Africa, the State Department has demanded access to health data for millions of people as a condition of giving countries billions of dollars in aid needed to address HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other illnesses.

Public Citizen’s Peter Maybarduk told ICIJ that pharma created a system of rules to protect drugmakers and ensure wealthy governments protect them “There is a whole architecture underpinning Keytruda and every patented drug where the US government and Europe go to bat for the industry and its rules”

ICIJ@icij.org · 4mo ago

The yearlong investigation by 100+ journalists also sheds new light on the strategies that have allowed Merck to widen Keytruda’s use — even in cases where the benefits are limited and lower dosages may be just as effective. www.icij.org/investigatio...

#CancerCalculus: An ICIJ-led collaboration with 47 media partners in 37 countries reveals how Merck & Co. keeps the price of its lifesaving cancer drug Keytruda sky-high, locking out patients and squeezing health care systems worldwide. www.icij.org/investigatio...

Here the summary of this ask and transparency action we did we @publiccitizen.bsky.social and @hai-org.bsky.social saludporderecho.org/en/mpox-and-...

Mpox and global access facing the same persistent barriers

This joint initiative by Salud por Derecho, Health Action International (HAI), and Public Citizen raises serious concerns about the lack of transparency and access safeguards in the European Commissio...

saludporderecho.org

Kristof Decoster@kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Via Euractiv (gated): www.euractiv.com/news/eu-shou...

Holding HIV treatment hostage to extract mineral deals is indefensible. More than a million Zambians rely on this aid. This administration always finds a new low. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/h...

U.S. Considers Withholding H.I.V. Aid Unless Zambia Expands Minerals Access

nytimes.com

Transparency and obligations that support broad access to medical tools are non-negotiable in pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Public Citizen, @Saludporderecho.bsky.social, and @hai-org.bsky.social are calling on the EU and others to step up: saludporderecho.org/mpox-y-acces...

Mpox y acceso global: las mismas barreras de siempre

La mpox ha vuelto a situar en primer plano los desafíos pendientes en la respuesta global a las crisis sanitarias. Es una enfermedad infecciosa que en pocos años ha provocado

saludporderecho.org

In a statement on behalf of HAI, @publiccitizen.bsky.social & @saludporderecho.bsky.social to 6th IGWG meeting on the #PandemicAgreement, we warned that a vague text with no binding obligations, workable schemes or enforceable commitments cannot be considered a success: haiweb.org/media-resour...

Statement to the 6th IGWG on WHO Pandemic Agreement - Health Action International

This statement to the 6th meeting of the IGWG on WHO Pandemic Agreement was delivered on behalf of HAI, Salud por Derecho  and Public Citizen

haiweb.org

Letter here: www.citizen.org/article/publ...

Public Citizen Demands Pfizer Retract Threats To Withhold Medicines From Europe - Public Citizen

Albert Bourla Pfizer Inc. 66 Hudson Boulevard East New York, NY 10001-2192 March 9, 2026 Mr. Bourla, Earlier this year,…

citizen.org

Pfizer’s CEO said Pharma may “stop supplying” countries that don’t pay more in response to Trump’s threats & pressure campaign. This would be a classic “working failure,” grounds for compulsory license in every patent law. Drugmakers that threaten supply lose monopoly privileges. We wrote Bourla:

Americans aren’t going bankrupt from their cancer treatment because Europeans are getting the same treatment for less. They are going broke so pharma CEOs can get their multi-million dollar paydays, and they are going broke so pharma can enrich shareholders w/ billions in dividends & stock buybacks.

Pfizer Cannot Hold Prescription Drugs Hostage from European Nations, Must Take Accountability for High Prices - Public Citizen

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Public Citizen sent a letter demanding Pfizer commit to making its medicines reliably accessible everywhere after its CEO, Albert Bourla, told…

citizen.org

The White House still has not published any of its deals with drugmakers, making its claims to have lowered prices very difficult to believe. But we know for a fact Trump & GOP gave pharma an $8+ billion payout out of pockets of taxpayers & cancer patients via the Big Ugly Bill.

Don’t Buy Trump’s SOTU Claims on Drug Prices - Public Citizen

In his State of the Union speech, President Trump is expected to tout progress from his administration on lowering drug prices for Americans, but the rhetoric will not match the reality. Here are the ...

citizen.org

A new data tool for advocates: The Health Security Policy Academy has released its U.S. Global Health Spending Watch dashboard, which tracks how the U.S. government obligates and spends #GlobalHealth funds. Explore the dashboard and accompanying blog:

U.S. Global Health Spending Watch.

The data are public. We just make them usable.

globalhealthwatch.org

Read the Principles for Access to Medicines and Trade: www.citizen.org/news/more-th...

More Than 100 Organizations Urge Countries to Resist Trump’s Trade Attacks, Protect Access to Affordable Medicines - Public Citizen

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Public Citizen, Health GAP, and 99 expert organizations from around the world are calling for an approach…

citizen.org

The Trump administration is using U.S. trade power and extreme tariffs to bully other countries into binding agreements that undermine affordable and readily available access to medicines. Experts from around the world offer an alternate vision:

Canada will get <$100 weight loss drugs, while Americans still struggle with the world’s highest prices. We asked HHS to allow generic competition, overcoming the drugmakers’ patent barriers to improve access to expensive GLP-1s for weight loss, diabetes, and other conditions.

New HHS petition Calls on the Trump Administration to Authorize Affordable Generic GLP-1 Drugs for Americans - Public Citizen

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Public Citizen filed a petition requesting that the United States Department of Health and Human Services…

citizen.org

Here's @publiccitizen.bsky.social's statement on TrumpRx: www.citizen.org/news/trumprx... #healthpolicy

TrumpRx Lets Big Pharma Off the Hook - Public Citizen

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This evening, President Trump is expected to announce the launch of TrumpRx – a direct-to-consumer website that…

citizen.org

📢 Ranafrica.org, @publiccitizen.bsky.social, People's Health Movement Kenya, and nearly 50 CSOs call on African leaders to demand equity and sovereignty rather than one-sided terms in new bilateral health agreements with the U.S. Read the letter. ⬇️ www.ranafrica.org/news/african...

📢Junto a @publiccitizen.bsky.social, @hai-org.bsky.social y otras 26 organizaciones pedimos a HERA (UE) más transparencia en el acuerdo con Bavarian Nordic para la compra de 8 millones de dosis de la vacuna mpox/smallpox Aquí más info👉 www.citizen.org/article/civi...

Civil Society Letter to EU HERA on Mpox/Smallpox Vaccine Procurement and Global Access - Public Citizen

Dear Commissioner Lahbib and Director-General Fink-Hooijer, As organisations concerned with equitable access to health products in the European Union and…

citizen.org

Under threat of higher tariffs, the UK has agreed to give more money to Big Pharma, which will do NOTHING to lower the cost of medicines in the U.S. More evidence that Trump’s tariffs are about helping his CEO buds, not working people.

Lenacapavir could sharply cut new HIV infections. But only if people can actually get it. Watch this brief video from @maybarduk.bsky.social on how monopoly power is limiting access, and why World AIDS Day is the moment to demand change. www.instagram.com/p/DRh2CUIjl-Z/

Big Pharma and its allies hired over 500 lobbyists this year to push 3 bills to erode a landmark reform that lets Medicare negotiate lower drug prices, according to our new report. Their lobbyist hires outnumbered public interest advocates fighting the bad bills by 20-to-1.

Trade agreements must not stand in the way of health and access to medicines. USMCA must be revised to remove extreme intellectual property provisions that keep medicine prices high, discourage competition, and ultimately impede access to medicine.

Thanks to health leaders Emily Bass, Mitchell Warren, Asia Russell, Amanda Banda, and Isata Dumbuya. And to our event co-hosts UNAIDS, Health GAP, People's Medicines Alliance, UAEM, Treatment Action Group, RESULTS, and Partners In Health.

We had a critical discussion about continuing the fight to bring medicines to all, with the first step being bringing that breakthrough — at that price — to the world. Thanks to UNAIDS' Winnie Byanyima and Unitaid's Tenu Avafia for joining us today and for your leadership.

This week, the world learned that a new HIV prevention drug will be available for $40/year in 120 countries by 2027. Yet millions of people in countries with growing HIV crises still are left out. Today, health groups came together to support access for everyone, everywhere.