Business and the 'right to health' in international human rights law

Transnational Corporations (TNCs) operating in the healthcare sector, especially pharmaceutical companies,
have an often-negative impact on those who rely heavily on the medicines they produce. The artificial raising
of drug prices (Kuchler, 2019; Rapaport, 2019) as well as widespread healthcare-sector corruption, (Toebes,
2010) stemming from a profit-motivated culture, impacts upon healthcare policy and provision (Germain,
2019). Illustrative, is Mylan Pharmaceuticals' 600% price-rise of the life-saving EpiPen (Odden et al, 2017);
reportedly causing parents to send their highly-allergic children to school with expired medication; unable
to pay the extortionate price-rise (Voyles, 2019). As such, this research examines the effectiveness of
international mechanisms of ensuring the accountability of healthcare-sector TNCs which violate the 'right
to health'. The timeliness of this research cannot be understated, given the reported potential for a post-
Brexit UK-US trade deal to exacerbate the growing power of US pharmaceutical companies and their impact
on drug-price rises in the UK (Barnett, 2019).