AIDS activists welcome drug move

PRETORIA, South Africa (CNN) -- South Africans have joyously welcomed a move by the leading drug companies to end a court action over generic AIDS drugs.

The companies dropped the landmark court case where they had sought to prevent the implementation of the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act that allows South Africa to import cheap copies of patented drugs.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela was said to be pleased at Thursday's decision.

"Mr. Mandela is very happy that they have dropped the case and that it will allow cheaper medicines into South Africa," his spokeswoman Zelda la Grange told Reuters.

VIDEO CNN's Becky Anderson talks to patent lawyer Simon Cohen about the case QuickTime Play video Real Play video Windows Media Play video CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports on the settlement which should make AIDS treatment less expensive in South Africa Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     AUDIO CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault: A huge victory for the entire African continent 465 Kb/43 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Nathan Ford, Medecins Sans Frontieres: The public pressure was everything 424 Kb/39 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    RESOURCES Costs of AIDS drugs in Africa and U.S.   CNNfyi.com Lesson plan: AIDS in Africa     MESSAGE BOARD Share your thoughts on AIDS prevention     QUICKVOTE Should developing countries be allowed to use cheaper copies of patented drugs? Yes No View Results     ALSO AIDS drug firms to hold news conference on Thursday Q&A: South Africa's AIDS treatment battle

Mandela was president when the law was introduced in 1997 and had sharply criticised drug firms for fighting the legislation, accusing them of exploiting the AIDS epidemic in the developing world.

AIDS affects more than 25 million Africans, and South Africa -- with an estimated 4.7 million sufferers -- has more people living with HIV or AIDS than any other country in the world.

President of the Treatment Action Campaign, Zackie Achmat, told CNN that he hoped the South African government would "take the moral leadership" and provide the people of that country with the drugs they needed.

AIDS activists had asked the government to provide a treatment plan by June 16.

"What we really want is to stop the game-playing … because the numbers (of deaths from AIDS) are just too staggering," Achmat said.

AIDS agencies welcomed the decision.

"The outcome of the case signals a dramatic shift in the balance of power between developing states and drug companies," Oxfam, Medecins Sans Frontieres and the South African Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said in a joint statement.

"It sends a clear signal to the African heads of state that lives should and can take precedence over patents," they said.

The case was brought by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association of South Africa (PMA) on behalf of 39 international drug makers three years ago after the act was introduced.

The legal move was strongly opposed by the public and human rights campaigners and the issue became a public relations disaster for the industry.

When the Pretoria High Court reconvened on Thursday, the lawyer for the pharmaceutical companies, Stephanus Cilliers, told Judge Bernard Ngoepe: "By the consent of all parties, we would simply ask your lordship to note that the application is withdrawn."

As the announcement was made the public gallery in the court erupted into singing and chanting.

South Africa's Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said the government had not agreed to any deals in exchange for the drug industry move.

"You can trust the government," she said.

The government would now go ahead with the purchase of drugs to treat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and a number of other chronic diseases, she said.

World Health Organization official Wilbert Pannenberg said access to affordable drugs was a "humans rights issue."

But drugs companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, the world's largest supplier of HIV/AIDS medicines, U.S. firms Merck & Co and Bristol-Myers Squibb, Swiss group Roche and German group Boehringer Ingelheim, said the act threatened their business.

The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations welcomed their counterpart's move.

"The way is now clear for industry to work together with the government in addressing the healthcare needs of South Africa," the federation's director general Brian Ager said.

Simon Cohen, a patents expert with London-based law firm Taylor Joynson Garrett, told CNN: "It is early to say what the implication of this is but it is a very unusual step.

"There are many reasons why the drugs industry has withdrawn its action, not least the public relations effect and perhaps the possibility that it could not win its case."

He said that the cost in financial terms would not be that great: "As far as the big pharmaceutical companies are concerned they were not making considerable sales in South Africa anyway because the drugs could not be afforded, so it is not as if they will have lost a big market."

AIDS drug court battle dropped
April 19, 2001
AIDS drugs case adjourned
April 18, 2001

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