Making Pharma Otherwise: alternative models of pharmaceutical research, development, and production for the public good

British Academy/Wellcome Trust Conferences bring together scholars and specialists from around the world to explore themes related to health and wellbeing.

For some time, global health experts have recognized that dominant models of pharmaceutical research and distribution often fail to meet the urgent health needs of populations worldwide. The global “vaccine apartheid” during the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted these challenges and sparked renewed interest in alternative approaches to pharmaceutical development. This two-day conference brings together interdisciplinary social scientists and civil society advocates to examine new pathways for research, regulation, and production that prioritize the public good.

The conference places initiatives emerging in the Global South at the center of the discussion, highlighting efforts beyond Big Pharma and the conventional generics industry. Participants will explore a wide range of strategies and innovations that employ diverse methods to achieve socially just outcomes, fostering critical dialogue about how pharmaceutical systems can be reimagined to better serve global health needs.

Conference convenors

• Anne Pollock, Kings College London
• Lauren Paremoer, University of Cape Town
• Koichi Kameda, Université Paris Cité

Speakers

• Azza Ahmed, University of Cape Town
• Hala Audi, Independent Consultant, London
• Mady Barbeitas, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris
• Melissa Barber, Médecins Sans Frontières, New York
• Alila Brossard Antonielli, Humboldt University, Berlin
• Chimwemwe Chamdimba, African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa's Development (AUDA-NEPAD), Johannesburg
• Sudip Chaudhuri, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
• Gabriela Chaves, Geneva Graduate Institute
• Lu Chen, University of Manchester
• Courtney Davis, King's College London
• Hamish Evans, King's College London
• KM Gopakumar, Third World Network, New Delhi
• Nils Graber, Humboldt University, Berlin
• Matthew Herder, Dalhousie University, Halifax
• Mahamat Ilyass, IRD and Université Paris Cité
• Koichi Kameda, IRD and Université Paris Cité
• Samuel Kariuki, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), East Africa Office, Nairobi
• Suerie Moon, Global Health Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute
• Nicaise Ndembi, International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Africa Regional Office, Kigali
• Patricia Neves, Bio-Manguinhos-FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro
• Lauren Paremoer, University of Cape Town
• Anne Pollock, King's College London
• Mathieu Quet, IRD and Université Paris Cité
• Judit Rius, Independent Consultant, Barcelona
• Stuart Ssebibubbu, Afya na Haki, Entebbe
• Claudia Vaca, Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the Colombian Ombudsman's Office
• Thomas Yeboah, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi

Convenor biographies

Koichi Kameda is a sociologist, lawyer, and STS scholar whose research focuses on technological autonomy and health sovereignty, Global South actors’ contributions to technological globalization, equitable pharmaceutical R&D models, and global health policies in emerging countries.

Lauren Paremoer - Informed by a feminist political economy approach, her research focuses on health activism, conceptions and enactments of solidarity in global governance for health, and political mobilisation aimed at realising social citizenship in the Global South. She is a member of the People’s Health Movement, and is active in leading its Democratising Global Health Governance programme.

Anne Pollock is a scholar in the interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies, her research explores feminist, antiracist, and postcolonial engagements with science, technology, and medicine. Two intertwining threads of her research focus on the impact of racism on health and the social science of pharmaceuticals, with a particular interest in endeavours to realise the potential of pharmaceutical research, development, manufacturing, and distribution to better serve public good.

Further information

Tickets will be available soon.

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