South Africa V Big Pharma

South Africa slammed global drug firms over a covert campaign against its planned overhaul of intellectual property laws to favor cheaper generic drugs. It is not the first time drugmakers have clashed with Pretoria. A decade ago the industry was forced to climb down in a bruising battle with South Africa over AIDS drugs patents and access to generics.

The latest fight reflects tension between an industry that wants to protect its intellectual property, even as it pushes further into emerging markets, and governments from India to Brazil that are determined to increase patients' access to life-saving treatments. South Africa is in the final stages of implementing a new law that would allow generic drugmakers to produce cut-price copies of patented medicines and make it harder for firms to register and roll over patents. The policy would close a loophole known as "ever-greening" that allows a drugmaker to make minor changes to an existing drug or discover a new use for it, and then register it as a totally new find. Under current South African IP law, pharmaceutical companies are able to register drugs as new without being checked.

Pharmaceutical giants have drawn up a $600,000 publicity campaign to mobilize local and overseas opposition to the intellectual property changes. Prepared by U.S. consultancy Public Affairs Engagement for industry lobby Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa (IPASA)  it outlines a plan to delay the reform at least until after South Africa's elections in early May by suggesting the new law would be politically damaging. It threatens that the drug companies would “take action by reducing investment”. IPASA members include Sanofi, Baxter International, Pfizer and Novartis.

Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi said  "This document can sentence many South Africans to death. This is a plan for genocide."

South Africa's real drug problem

Lifesaving drugs under disputed patents could become more easily available in future depending on the outcome of a case before the South African Supreme Court of Appeal. The case revolves around a Sanofi-Aventis cancer drug docetaxel, an important drug used to treat many forms of cancer. It has the potential to save lives or improve the quality of life of cancer patients, but remains expensive as it is under patent.

More often than not, patented medicines are more expensive than generic versions of drugs, with most cancer medicines being extremely expensive. It is not unusual for cancer patients on medical aid to exhaust their oncology benefits, facing crippling bills at the end of their treatment regimen. It is known that once a generic enters the market it encourages competition driving prices down even further.

The Treatment Action Campaign is arguing that it is in the interests of cancer patients that the generic drugs be available, and that the harm to patients will be greater than the harm to Sanofi-Aventis. If the Court accepts TAC's argument it will be an important advance for the rights of access to affordable medicines. It will mean that in future in any dispute over patents in respect of medicines, the courts will have to consider the public interest and the Constitutional right of access to health care services.

Unlike many other countries where patents can only be registered following substantive examinations, in South Africa it is relatively easy to register patents. South Africa currently provides patent protection beyond what is required by the TRIPS agreement. Unlike South Africa, India, Brazil and Thailand, among others, have used flexibilities allowed under TRIPS to curb excessive patenting of pharmaceuticals and promote public health. South Africa granted 2,442 pharmaceutical patents in 2008 alone, Brazil only granted 278 pharmaceutical patents between 2003 and 2008. Generic versions of the disputed drug are now available in the United States - a country that upholds strict patent protection.

The consequences of South Africa's strict patent protection are high medicine costs and the delayed availability of affordable generic medicines. Medicine expenditure increased 25.2% between 2008 and 2010, while actual medicine use only increased 5.8%.

Access to life-saving medicine is a human right, not to be dictated by a bank balance or company profits.


http://allafrica.com/stories/201205141151.html

too little, too late

Of 22.9 million HIV positive people in sub-Saharan Africa, 5.6 million are South African, according to a recent UNAIDS report. But only 1.6 million HIV positive people in South Africa are on antiretrovirals (ARVs), the report said. This amounted to only 37 percent of those who should be on treatment, said Catherine Sozi, coordinator of UNAIDS in South Africa. "We need to put another 1.6 million onto treatment by 2015,"she said.

Botswana, Namibia and Rwanda have more than 80 percent of their eligible HIV-positive populations on ARVs. In Ethiopia, Kenya, Swaziland and Zambia between 60 percent and 79 percent are on ARVs, according to the report.

The Swiss company Lonza is to manufacture anti-retroviral drugs in South Africa in joint venture with the South African government, named Ketlaphela ["I will live or survive" in Sesotho], will establish the first plant to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for anti-retroviral medicines in South Africa.

It may mean cheaper HIV drugs but i does not mean FREE anti-retrovirals. Commerce still takes priority in capitalism