On May 14, Wemos presented the game Monopoly, the Medicine Edition, to MPs from the Committee for Public Health, Welfare and Sport in the Dutch parliament. With this we draw attention to excessive and opaque prices of new medicines, on which pharmaceutical companies have a monopoly. The presentation to MPs is part of a campaign in which Wemos calls on the Dutch government to ensure fair medicine prices.
According to Wemos, access to healthcare and medicines is under pressure, also in the Netherlands. Pharmaceutical companies are given a monopoly on new medicines and charge extremely high and opaque rates. Expensive medicines are in danger of no longer being reimbursed and the high costs lead to displacement of other care. At the beginning of 2023, it was decided for the first time in the Netherlands not to reimburse three medicines due to their extremely high prices.
In the campaign ‘Health over money: medicines for all’, Wemos calls on the Dutch government to ensure fair medicine prices. We advocate legislation and regulations for transparency about the costs and pricing of medicines, and agreements on the price when medicines are developed with taxpayer’s money. The campaign consists of various videos by Roel Maalderink (known from the satirical Dutch TV show Plakshot), interviews with experts and information material.
In one of the campaign videos, Roel Maalderink presents the (fictional) game Monopoly, the Medicine Edition. To conclude the campaign, we handed out Monopoly game boxes to the MPs. The boxes contain a collection of our campaign materials, including an infographic and Q&A.
Since this is a campaign that focuses on the Dutch public and politics, all campaign materials are in Dutch. The campaign videos are also available with English subtitles.
Photos: Hyo Mee Duerinck
Receive our newsletter
