/ 26 February 2000

CON COURT CLOSES DRUG LOOPHOLE

THE Constitutional Court on Friday upheld a decision by the Transvaal High Court to set aside a medicines Act promulgated last year, but which did not provide for the proper control of dangerous drugs. The South African Medicines and Medical Devices Regulatory Authority Act 1998 came into force on April 30 last year, before being set aside. Former President Nelson Mandela and other applicants — including then-Minister of Health Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of South Africa — requested the high court review. The Act made no provision for control over the import, packaging, use and sale of medicines in the country.