Council chair confirms the split

The union, which represents more than 500,000 nurses in the UK, acted after campaign groups Nurses for Palestine and UK Healthcare Petitions to Royal Colleges (UKHPRC) pressed it to end its relationship with Teva UK. Carmel O'Boyle, chair of the RCN's ruling council, confirmed the decision in a letter to Nurses for Palestine.

O'Boyle said the RCN is ending its commercial partnership with Teva UK going forward and that the firm - the British arm of the global drug company Teva Pharmaceuticals, one of the NHS's biggest suppliers of medicines - will no longer sponsor the RCNi nursing leadership summit on migraine and headache services, scheduled for 30 October 2026. The event will go ahead as planned, the chair added.

In the letter, O'Boyle said commercial partners must reflect the values of the nursing profession:

What the due diligence found

The council chair said the move followed further due diligence that found a number of Teva Pharmaceuticals' operations of concern, operations that have been the subject of legal sanction and public scrutiny and that are not in line with the values of RCNi, the union's publishing and education arm, and the RCN.

The letter points to about £1bn in fines and other payments Teva has been ordered to pay by the European Commission and US authorities over the last decade, imposed for bribery, price-fixing and abuse of its market position. Among the penalties:

• •In 2024, the European Commission fined Teva €462.6m for blocking rival firms from competing with Copaxone, its multiple sclerosis treatment, in seven European countries over between four and nine years.
• •In 2023, Teva agreed with the US Department of Justice to pay $225m in fines as an alternative to prosecution after it was charged with fixing the price of three drugs.
• •In 2016, the company struck deals with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Department of Justice to pay $519m to settle civil and criminal charges over its bribery of government officials in Russia, Ukraine and Mexico.

Campaigners hail breakthrough, Teva seeks dialogue

The groups that had pressed the RCN to drop the company called the decision a major breakthrough for grassroots healthcare organising and the international boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. A Nurses for Palestine spokesperson said Teva has no place sponsoring professional bodies dedicated to healing, care and preserving human life.

UKHPRC said it is unthinkable that healthcare organisations still enter commercial relationships with companies linked to state systems accused or found by international bodies to involve grave violations of international law, including crimes against humanity, apartheid and genocide.

A Teva spokesperson said the company is disappointed by the RCN's decision to end the relationship and is seeking further dialogue with the organisation. The spokesperson said Teva, one of the largest suppliers of medicines to the UK, had valued its longstanding partnership with the RCN, and that healthcare is at its best when it remains focused on patients rather than being politicised.

Pressure moves to the Royal College of Pharmacy

Campaigners are now calling on the Royal College of Pharmacy to drop Teva UK as sponsor of its annual conference next month and to cancel the exhibition stand the firm has booked. Teva says it is seeking further dialogue with the RCN, and the migraine and headache services summit will go ahead on 30 October 2026 without the company as a sponsor.