NI (No.362)

<<CONTENTS>>

9 The great health grab
We're being held to ransom by an industry that makes obscene profits from our wellbeing. Dinyar Godrej on the case against Big Pharma.

13 Pressure points
How the drug biz reacts to scandal.

14 Freemarket freebies
Things get decidedly sweet when drug companies approach doctors. Tamar Wilner does some sleuthing.

16 Peddling paranoia
Alan Cassels takes issue with disease mongering.

18 BIG PHARMA- THE FACTS

20 Epidemic, what epidemic?
Treatment for a deadly disease or a depilatory cream: Big Pharma knows which is more important. Spring Gombe explains.

22 Patients versus patents
The pursuit of profit is proving fatal in Thailand. Teena Amrit Gill reports.

24 Who cares about cancer?
Joana Ramos delves into an area of neglect.

25 Bucking the trend
An interview with Yves Champey, director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative.

26 Health hazard
Opening the casebook of Big Pharma's dirty tricks.

28 Yuck, no thanks!
Don't swallow the medicine - action and resistance.

<Regular Features>

2 Letters

4 Southern Exposure
The colours of pilgrimage, by Sri Lankan photographer Dominic Sansoni.

5 View from the South
Ike Oguine examines the legacy and the inspiration of Nelson Mandela.

6 Currents
South Indian villagers devastated by pesticide sprayed from the air; Burma's military makes people walk across minefields; transnational mining companies threaten Indonesia's forests; slave workers in Brazil.
PLUS: Word Corner - Dogs
PLUS: Speechmarks and Seriously

29 World beaters
Emperor With No Clothes; Bush's Best Buddy; Hammer of Iraq (& Afghanistan, & Kosovo, & Socialism): Tony Blair, come on down!

30 Mixed Media
MUSIC, BOOKS, FILM review

32 Big Bad World
The truth about global poverty: Polyp's latest cartoon.
PLUS: NI Prize Crossword

33 Making Waves
Interview with Alice Coles: US shanty dwellers whose campaign came good.

34 Essay - Lost in the Lowlands
Nepali filmmaker Pranav Budhathoki goes under cover to report on the exploitation of migrant workers in rural England.

36 Country Profile - Malawi

NI-Japan (No.50)

<<CONTENTS>>

Big Pharma
Every day thousands of people die of curable diseases. Even though effective and sometimes simple medicines exist to cure them, they are unable to access these life-saving drugs. This month NI shows how companies which make these drugs bear a large part of the responsibility for this situation. But there are increasing demands that essential medicine come before the patents, profits and focus on rich markets of 'Big Pharma'


<This month's article>
-Translation of "The great health grab" (p9-12)

<Reporting from Japan>
Empowering Patients -the surest check on drug companies.
---Interview with Hanai Jugo, leader of a group representing victims harmed by drugs.


<Contact Points>
Information on NPOs working for drug issues and website to obtain drug information.

<Country Profile>
-Translation of "Country Profile - Malawi" (p36)