# $25k competition for campaign to expose failures of high medicine costs

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/07/03/25k-competition-for-campaign-to-expose-failures-of-high-medicine-costs/
- Published: 2015-07-03T12:10:21+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**The Public Health programme of the Open Society Foundations is inviting campaigners
in Europe to pitch for up to $25,000 to run a public campaign that will challenge
the arguments used to justify high drug prices and support the profit-maximising
model of pharmaceutical research and development.**

The Foundations are particularly keen to hear from **campaigners in Spain, Greece
and the UK**.

## Why a campaign?

The Open Society Foundations say that rising prices that threaten equitable access
to medicines and treatment are no longer limited to patients in low- and middle-
income countries: they are now affecting patients in some of the world’s wealthiest
countries, where governments are having to ration treatment.

## Advertisement

OSF claim that “the current private, profit-driven and patent-based model of pharmaceutical
innovation isn’t achieving what it was designed for: innovation to advance public
health”. They point to the launch of “unaffordable” new hepatitis C and cancer treatments.

The Foundations also question why there is still a lack of drugs to treat Ebola 
and multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.

The Public Health programme is therefore **seeking proposals from networks, coalitions
and individual organisations** who will [design and implement a public campaign](http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/creative-activism-expose-failure-current-drug-development-model-20150701)
to challenge this situation and show that  anew approach is possible.

It is looking for “creative and courageous ideas that expose the failure of the 
current profit-based model of pharmaceutical R&D, and highlight the need for an 
alternative approach”. It is open to a range of suggestions, ranging from public
stunts to short-term campaigns.

It expects proposals to seek up to $25,000 for a campaign that would last from 6-
12 months. The campaign could start as early as December 2015.

## How to apply

Those interested in applying should send a letter of intent of no more than three
pages to [Azzi Momenghalibaf](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/07/03/25k-competition-for-campaign-to-expose-failures-of-high-medicine-costs/az****************@********************ns.org)**
by 20 July 2015**.

 

_Photo: [medicine tablets](http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-292248563.html) by kowitstockphoto
on Shutterstock.com_

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