Drug case adjourned in hope of settlement

The Pretoria High Court on Wednesday postponed a case brought by 39 international pharmaceutical companies to stop South Africa from importing cheap copies of their patented Aids drugs until Thursday, Reuters has reported "As discussions are still going on, the case is adjourned until 10am tomorrow," the report quoted presiding Judge Bernard Ngoepe as saying.

Ngoepe had been expected to announce the withdrawal of the case brought by the world's major drug makers to halt the implementation of a law that would circumvent patents on expensive drugs needed to fight HIV and Aids. AIDS activists said there was almost complete agreement among the drug makers to drop the case, but that details of the settlement needed to be worked on overnight, including the issue of legal costs.

GlaxoSmithKline is the world's largest supplier of HIV/AIDS medicines. The other major makers are US firms Merck & Co and Bristol-Myers Squibb, Swiss group Roche and unlisted German group Boehringer Ingelheim.

The court, scheduled to hear the pharmaceutical companies' appeal against the government's plans, convened only long enough in the morning for the judge to grant a postponement until Wednesday afternoon. "We requested the delay so common ground can be found for a settlement," said Fanie Cilliers, a lawyer for the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association of South Africa (PMA).