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Blood cancer patients such as Retha Wessels are forced to get a life-saving drug illegally to avoid paying thousands for it each month. (Delwyn Verasamy)
Video

He would ransom the pills for something more precious than profit: His wife’s life

When a few months of treatment costs as much as a house, some patients are taking their lives and the law into their own hands to survive.

Hundreds of protestors descend on DTI’s Pretoria offices demanding access to affordable medicines

Think paying your medical aid premiums every month ensures you access to the drugs you need when you get sick? Think again.

Medicines, especially advanced therapies, come with high price tags. Photo: Madelene Cronje

Lift the veil on drug pricing and trade agreements, the UN urges companies and states

New United Nations report calls for drug companies to spill closely held secrets and patent reforms.

Bhekisisa’s stories changing lives: ‘People were finally helping me’

A TB patient finally gets a disability grant and a woman has free access to the world’s most expensive drug.

Activists fear a pharmaceutical plot is at play

The department of trade and industry has yet to finalise patent reforms, raising questions that cheaper medication could be blocked intentionally.

Public health

New drug policy is patently high risk

There is widespread support for drastic change to patent laws when it comes to pharmaceuticals, but the results could be disastrous.

Big pharma companies seek higher profits by cleaning out their medicine chests

Global pharma companies are looking to sell off their mature drugs, which are often sold in emerging markets where governments demand low prices.

TB and cancer drugs in particular are much cheaper in India.

Patients before patents, demand health activists

The intellectual property policy, which will allow access to cheaper drugs, has yet to be finalised while patients are dying, say health activists.

Brazil’s sick of patent exploitation

The country is fighting the intellectual property laws that hiked up the cost of its HIV programme.

The high cost of drugs is putting them out of patients’ reach

Generic cancer drug – access not guaranteed

A generic version of a key cancer drug is now available in South Africa, but at a significantly higher cost than it is available internationally.

A 2012 protest against Novartis in India.

India makes breakthrough drug patent ruling against Novartis

India’s Supreme Court has rejected a patent bid by Novartis in a ruling that will protect access to generics and save lives in developing countries.

Samsung aims to ban iPhone 5 sales, say reports

Reports say Samsung will file lawsuits to try to block the sale of Apple’s iPhone 5 as part of its global legal tussle with the US technology giant.