Fascist Boycott of Generic Drug Maker, Teva

Ireland introduced compulsory generic medicines substitution in 2013, leading to significant changes in medicine usage here. Much well-known American branded medication was replaced by the more affordable, but equally effective, generic versions.

Most Irish people getting prescription medicines these days will opt for ‘generic’ medication. Teva, an Israeli multinational, is the market leader in this off-patent field.

With that background in mind, a tweet on X drew my attention to Friends of Palestine Ireland (FOPI).

FOPI campaigned to boycott Israeli-owned Teva, the major Irish-based generic drug producer. Irish & Northern Irish citizens were encouraged to email chemists to de-stock Teva products (by using their pinpoint location targeting map).

Why segregate this company from the pharmaceutical pack? Why not boycott GSK or Sanofi and other corporate giants selling drugs in Gaza and the West Bank? https://interpharm.ps/product/1

There are significant issues for chemists with such a simplistic, de-stocking strategy.

1) Loss of customers seeking cheaper drugs in these inflationary times.

2) Valuable time spent sourcing (unnamed) drug manufacturers for alternatives.

3) An ideological apartheid approach takes no commercial cognisance of any pre-existing legal contracts, including terms and conditions with companies, such as Teva.

What will happen if targeted chemists decline to comply with the “request”? Will self-appointed, Aryan-like activists picket non-compliant shops? Nothing would surprise me in this febrile political zeitgeist.

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Yale University Press recently published a book called, Resisters – how ordinary Jews fought persecution in Nazi Germany. One prescient photo shows the Pelikan Pharmacy in Berlin. Jewish chemist Isaac Bry had his shop windows  defaced with the Aryan Nazi accusation: “This Jew still acts impudently “.

These days, Jews are still acting “impudently” – by simply existing. But Israel continually enriches the world with its successful business nous and its restless intellectual property genius. Go tell it on the mountain!

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In 2024, Youth Front for Palestine (UK) attempted a similar boycott campaign against Teva. They falsely claimed that Teva

“… is the only firm given access by Israel to operate in the West Bank and Gaza — making Palestinians dependent on the occupier for medicine…(1)

That lie is contradicted on this medical site https://interpharm.ps/product/1

Other Hebrew-hostile groups in Europe have been equally malevolent towards Teva. The co-founder of EuroPalestine, Olivia Zemor, said:

“...who would want to treat themselves with an Israeli brand (Teva, the number two generic drug in France) – when we know that for a very long time, Palestinians have not had the right to treatment, particularly in the Gaza Strip...”(2)

Another falsehood that contradicts Palestinian academic research. Both the West Bank and Gaza “state” health authorities will only allow branded drugs to be prescribed. How can that be Teva’s fault??

‘The West Bank and Gaza Strip laws do not make any provision for matching the number of pharmacies to the population they serve. Nor do they allow pharmacists to operate generic drug substitution. ….Doctors (tend also to) prescribe more expensive brand-name drugs; current legislation does not allow generic-name drug substitution. (3)

Thousands of mothers and children in Gaza need cheap/generic medication. Make Generics Great Again (in Gaza)!

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And regarding the boycott “justification” –  how much financial sacrifice are patients prepared to make, to pay a premium for American-branded drugs?

Divestment denouncements might well be the last thing on patients’ minds when unwelcome and overwhelming big medical bills arrive.

In a pertinent side note: TEVA contributes a large part to the Irish pharmaceutical sector, creating 650 well-paid jobs and paying multi-millions of euros in Corporation Tax. (4)

Sources:

(1) Protesters gather outside Israeli pharmaceutical firm to call for boycott

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/protesters-gather-outside-israeli-pharmaceutical-firm-call-boycott

(2) Olivia Zemor, President of EuroPalestine: “Speak, act, boycott: my triple commitment” https://investigaction.net/olivia-zemor-presidente-deuropalestineparler-agir-boycotter-mon-triple-engagement/

(3) Drug situation analysis for the West Bank and Gaza Strip by Waleed Obeidallah, Mohammed Mahariq, Hani Barzeq, Mohammed Zemli, – In collaboration with: Paolo Piva and Germán Velásquez – pages 7 & 8.

https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/66159/WHO_EDM_DAP_2000.1.pdf?sequence=1

(4)Teva Working together to help improve lives https://www.teva.ie/about-teva/article-pages/teva-in_ireland/

Teva backstory: Over a hundred years ago, Chaim Salomon, Moshe Levin, and Yitschak Elstein came together to form that small pharmaceutical business which has become TEVA, a world leader in the industry. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/teva-pharmaceutical-industries

Resisters – how ordinary Jews fought persecution in Nazi Germany

https://www.amazon.com/Resisters-Ordinary-Persecution-Hitlers-Germany/dp/0300267193