OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Monday
LAWYERS from 39 pharmaceutical giants today launch a court battle against a law that would allow South Africa to import or produce cheap generic anti-Aids medicines rather than using the firms’ more expensive brand drugs.
In a case that could affect millions of Aids victims in poor countries, the South African government will be defending what it sees as its right to give access to cheaper versions of anti-Aids treatments to the estimated 4.2m South Africans who have HIV or Aids.
Oxfam, Medecins sans Frontieres and other non-governmental organisations are siding with the South African government in the case.
The 39 companies, including multinationals Glaxo Wellcome, Merck and Roche, say the bill passed in 1997 violates international law on trade and intellectual property rights. Implementation of the law has been blocked since 1998 by the court action. The trial is expected to last seven days.
“This trial is about knowing what the priority is: the commercial interests of the companies, or the people who are trying to stay alive,” said MSFs Ellen ‘t Hoen.
The 39 companies say that while they support policies giving poor Aids victims access to medication, this cannot be at any price. They say they want partnerships with governments in order to determine the prices of anti-Aids drugs.
It could take several months for the court to deliver its judgment in the case.
South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Confederation of South African Trades Unions (COSATU) organised a vigil in Pretoria overnight in support of the government’s position.
“Over the next seven days, one of the most stark acts of corporate inhumanity will unfold in a small courthouse in downtown Pretoria,” said Phil Bloomer of Oxfam.
“People with HIV/Aids in South Africa are dying because drug prices are too high as a result of patent protection. I find it appalling that the pharmaceutical industry is ignoring this and instead is trying to block the government’s efforts to improve access to medicine.”
The Treatment Action Campaign has lodged a request to be recognised as parties in the dispute, which would give them speaking rights at the trial.
Other major companies involved in the action include Bayer, Eli Lilly, Hoffman-La Roche AG and SmithKline Beecham. – AFP
ZA*NOW:
State, drug giants go head to head March 4, 2000