Britain\u2019s nursing union has cut its ties with an Israeli drug company over the firm\u2019s links to the country\u2019s military and track record of corporate misconduct.<\/p>\n
The Royal College of Nursing<\/a> (RCN) has axed Teva UK as a commercial partner and as sponsor of a forthcoming event on migraine and headaches at the union\u2019s London headquarters.<\/p>\n Pro-Palestine groups who were pushing the RCN to drop Teva UK claimed the decision was \u201ca major breakthrough for grassroots healthcare organising and the international boycott, divestment and sanctions movement\u201d aimed at isolating Israel worldwide.<\/p>\n The RCN represents more than 500,000 nurses in the UK. Teva UK is the British arm of the global drug giant Teva Pharmaceuticals, which is one of the NHS\u2019s biggest suppliers of medicines.<\/p>\n It acted after coming under pressure<\/a> from campaign groups Nurses for Palestine and UK Healthcare Petitions to Royal Colleges (UKHPRC) to end its relationship with Teva UK.<\/p>\n Carmel O\u2019Boyle, the chair of the RCN\u2019s ruling council, confirmed the decision in a letter to Nurses for Palestine.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing forward [the] RCN is ending its commercial partnership with Teva UK. Teva UK will no longer be a sponsor of the RCNi nursing leadership summit: migraine and headache services event on 30 October 2026. The event will go ahead as planned,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are taking this action because further due diligence showed that there are a number of Teva Pharmaceuticals\u2019 operations, which have been the subject of legal sanction and public scrutiny, which are not in line with RCNi [the union\u2019s publishing and education arm] and RCN values.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know how important it is that the RCN only enters commercial relationships with companies that represent the values of the nursing profession.\u201d<\/p>\n Teva said it was \u201cdisappointed\u201d at the RCN\u2019s decision and that healthcare had been \u201cpoliticised\u201d.<\/p>\n Nurses for Palestine welcomed the move. \u201cTeva has no place sponsoring professional bodies dedicated to healing, care and preserving human life,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n UKHPRC said: \u201cIt is unthinkable that in this day and age healthcare organisations continue to enter into commercial relationships with companies linked to sustaining state systems accused or found by international bodies to involve grave violations of international law, including crimes against humanity, apartheid and genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n Pro-Palestine campaigners are now calling on the Royal College of Pharmacy to drop Teva UK as a sponsor of its annual conference next month and cancel the exhibition stand the firm has booked.<\/p>\n Teva has been ordered to pay about \u00a31bn in fines and other payments by the European Commission and US authorities over the last decade for bribery, price-fixing and abuse of its market position.<\/p>\n In 2024 the European Commission fined<\/a> Teva \u20ac462.6m for blocking rival firms from competing with Copaxone, its treatment for multiple sclerosis, in seven European countries for between four and nine years.<\/p>\n