Medicines Network Netherlands

The Medicines Network Netherlands is an informal network of organizations in the Netherlands that inform each other about their activities and (policy) developments in the field of medicines. In late 2017, Wemos set up this network together with the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF Kankerbestrijding).

Aim of the network

The network focuses on improving access to affordable medicines. Its member organizations can form subgroups to jointly advocate a specific topic, for example by writing joint lobby letters or organizing meetings.

Wemos coordinates the network – we organize bimonthly meetings and the agenda, invite potential guest speakers and aim to ensure that the interests of the various members are addressed.

The network’s mailing list includes people from the following organizations:

Aidsfonds
Doctors Without Borders (NL en EU / Access Campaign)
Diabetes Fonds
Dokters van de Wereld / Médecins du Monde
Health Action International (HAI)
KWF Kankerbestrijding
Medicines Law & Policy
Patiëntenfederatie Nederland
Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation
Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM)
Wemos

In addition, the network’s mailing list includes several members in their personal capacity.

Examples of the network’s results:

The Netherlands should support a global Covid-19 pool, in which knowledge, data and intellectual property around Covid-19 are freely shared. This is what Wemos – on behalf of 38 civil society organizations, political youth organizations and 20 public health experts – called for in their letter towards Minister Van Rijn (Medical Care), Minister Kaag (Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation) and Minister Wiebes (Economic Affairs and Climate) in March 2020.
Together with several network members, we discussed the ten principles for socially responsible licensing and how we can contribute to the model agreement for universities on the affordability of medicines.
On May 16 2019, Wemos, Commons Network and Rode Hoed organized the debate ‘Farma’s Other Futures’. General-practitioners, researchers, politicians and experts joined to discuss viable alternatives to the current medicines system in which increasingly more medicines have become unaffordable. The complexity of the issue sparked a lively debate during the evening with 120 attendees.
In their opinion article in the Dutch daily paper De Volkskrant, License to Heal, Wemos and Commons Network argued that they could not support the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres’s (NFU) toolkit on socially responsible licensing. The NFU’s toolkit was not inclusive enough and omitted transparent pricing and responsible pricing of medicines that are yet to enter the market.