Media Statement
Pharmaceutical firms' legal suit against S. Africa reprehensible
Today [5 March] over forty of the world's largest pharmaceutical
companies; including Boehringer-Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline,
Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Roche - take the South African
Government to court. They are fighting a law, that was passed by
the South African parliament and approved by Nelson Mandela,
which would allow life-saving medicines to be imported from
countries where they are cheaper. They claim that the law
infringes intellectual property rights.
Nearly five million South Africans are living with HIV. But few
can afford the drugs which have enabled richer countries to
transform the disease from a killer into a manageable illness.
These companies, with the support of some Western governments,
are protecting their monopolies at the expense of millions of
lives. This legal action shows that the pharmaceutical industry
is more concerned with staving off competition and protecting
their high profit margins than with genuinely increasing access
to medicines.
We believe that this lawsuit is legally flawed and morally
reprehensible. We call on the companies involved to drop the case
and on Western Governments to provide clear support to the South
African Government as it strives to tackle the urgent HIV/AIDS
epidemic.
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