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NEWS July 6th 2001
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Related Articles People power beats big pharma in South Africa news updates 27/4/01 Blair government backs drug companies news updates 9/4/01 ‘Pharming Crisis – The South African AIDS drugs scandal explained’ (CW Newsletter 2) 'Toxic Drugs are good for you' (CW 10) for more on GlaxoSmith-Kline's contempt for patients. Campaign: Action for South Africa |
Brazil victory in drugs battle The US pharmaceuticals lobby were wringing their hands last week after the US government withdrew its patent infringement claim against Brazil. Brazil is now effectively free to continue its enormously successful AIDS treatment programme, which, by relying on cheap locally-produced versions of patented drugs, has managed to cut AIDS deaths by half since 1995. The charity Medicins Sans Frontieres says the programme has offered free treatment to more than 90,000 patients but would be threatened if Brazil had to pay higher prices for imported drugs. The claim, being brought in the WTO, was contesting a Brazilian law which allows local companies to manufacture patented products if the patent holder does not begin manufacturing in Brazil within three years of importing the product. The decision follows the collapse earlier this year of a similar case brought by drugs giants against South Africa, in which only the ‘business-friendly’ UK government was willing to back the profiteers againstSouth Africans’ health needs. Drugs companies are increasingly being forced to back down and offer products at reduced prices as they come under attack for large profit margins which appear to exploit the sick and public healthcare providers; attention is also turning to their habit of devoting research funding to non-fatal rich world problems such as obesity and sexual dysfunction while neglecting killer ‘poor people’s diseases’ such as TB and malaria, which are seen as unlikely to yield lucrative markets. |