Drugs lawsuit begins

The fight against HIV/AIDS takes on a new dimension on Monday when a lawsuit involving international drug companies and the South African government begins in the High Court in Pretoria.
The lawsuit is focused around the 1997 South African Medicines Act, which strongly encourages the use of generics rather than name-brand drugs and allows for a pricing committee to monitor the price of South African medicines. The Act also gives the minister of health the necessary powers to authorise the parallel importation of medicines.

The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA) of South Africa opposed the legislation and reacted with an interdict to block its implementation until a court could decide its legality. The PMA argued that the proposed legislation violated its “constitutional rights” by depriving them of the right to freely do business. It has also argued that it threatened their intellectual property rights.

However, the South African government said it believes the real issue is the precedent that the legislation could set. “The latest figures show that we are about 0.6 percent of the global market and 1.2 percent in terms of value. We are not going to make or break major pharmaceutical companies.
The issue for them is not South African markets. It’s the precedent that it sets. That is the biggest threat to them,” Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, director-general of the South African health department was quoted as saying.

In a press release on Friday, WHO said that it “strongly supports the 1996 South African National Drug Policy, whose objectives are, “to ensure an adequate and reliable supply of safe, cost-effective drugs of acceptable quality to all citizens of South Africa and the rational use of drugs by prescribers, dispensers and consumers”.

“WHO fully supports the intent of the 1997 Medicines Act 90, which is to operationalise key elements of the National Drug Policy, including generic substitution, greater competition in public drug procurement, improved drug quality, and more rational use of medicines,” WHO added.

In its response to the court, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) an international non-governmental organisation campaigning for affordable medicines said that it believed the lawsuit was “morally reprehensible and legally flawed”. “This suit seeks to deny the people of South Africa the right to life. The companies are imposing death sentences upon millions of Africans by practicing immoral price-gouging on AIDS-related drugs and by their unprincipled insistence on monopolies,” TAC said.

TAC and other campaigners are to protest on Monday in various cities around the world, including Pretoria, against the court case.