AstraZeneca is a pharmaceutical company which contributes to and profits from global medical apartheid. As one example, Oxford University in the UK developed a Covid-19 vaccine that was initially meant to be shared publicly, not for profit. However, things changed when Oxford partnered with AstraZeneca for the distribution of the vaccine, which became known as the “Oxford/AstraZeneca" vaccine. The clinical trials for the “Oxford/AstraZeneca" vaccine were conducted in South Africa, however when it came time to sell the approved vaccine, South Africa was charged over double the amount European countries were asked to pay for the vaccine. As reported by the Guardian in January 2021, South Africa was expected to pay $5.25 (€4.32) per dose of the vaccine, while “European Union members will pay $2.16 (€1.78) for AstraZeneca’s shots, according to information leaked by a Belgian minister on Twitter.” AstraZeneca's handling of the “Oxford/AstraZeneca" vaccine exemplifies the logic of racial capitalism and medical apartheid: Global South populations are used as test subjects for medical technologies not yet deemed to be safe, and are then denied equitable access to these same technologies following their approval--all so that already wealth corporations like AstraZeneca can maximize their profits.
AstraZeneca is one of the partner companies to MIT’s LGO (Leaders for Global Operations) program. AstraZeneca is also one of the company’s promoted by the MassBio council.
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AstraZeneca, which contributes to global medical apartheid, is one of the partner companies of MIT’s Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program.
According to OpenPaymentsData, AstraZeneca made two payments to MGH in 2020 that totaled $118,252.