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Africa Policy E-Journal
Africa: March 5 Action on Treatment Access +++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide Note in particular for immediate action the letter to the editor for which TAC and ACTSA in London are seeking organizational signatures from as many groups around the world as possible. Please send organizational endorsements by February 28 to campaigns@actsa.org. For more information, see the note from TAC and ACTSA below. For additional updates, consult the web sites http://www.tac.org.za and http://www.globaltreatmentaccess.org +++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ APIC Note On February 20, in response to rising criticism about its reported review of the Clinton administration executive order mandating that the U.S. not challenge African countries seeking "flexibility to bring life-saving drugs and medical technologies to affected populations," the U.S. trade representative's office issued a brief statement agreeing to continue "flexibility." The move is welcome, but insufficient. The USTR statement in full reads: "The HIV/AIDS crisis is a terrible tragedy for countries, families and individuals. USTR is not considering a change in the present flexible policy: Consistent with our overall effort to protect America's investment in intellectual property, USTR will seek to contribute to Administration efforts to work with countries that develop serious programs to prevent and treat this horrible disease." Despite this statement, in practice the aggressive defense of "intellectual property" is still taking priority over human lives. The administration is continuing its case at the World Trade Organization against Brazil, and pharmaceutical companies go to court in South Africa on March 5 to challenge South Africa's 1997 law which has still not been implemented. The outcome of the March 5 case will be a major influence in determining how quickly millions in South Africa and around the continent gain access to treatment. Opinion on the issue in the world media is shifting rapidly against the drug companies and in favor of expanded access. But African governments are still hesitating to follow the example of Brazil or of non-governmental organizations which are taking their own initiatives to import generic drugs. How much the pressure builds during the next few months - from the South African court case through the OAU summit on HIV/AIDS in April and the UN Special Session in June - will be decisive in making it possible to move from rhetoric to action on treatment access. To keep the pressure on the companies and the administration, I urge you to join APIC, the Africa Fund and many other groups supporting South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign's call for action on March 5. Read the material below and in earlier APIC postings (http://www.africapolicy.org), join in protests in your location, send in your organizational endorsement of the letter to campaigns@actsa.org, or take other actions such as your own letter to the editor of your local newspaper. - Salih Booker
ABOUT THE MEDICINES ACT OF 1997: A STEP TOWARDS ENDING APARTHEID IN HEALTH CARE The Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act 90 of 1997 How does the South African government intend making medicines more affordable? The Medicines Act introduces four important elements to contain health care costs to government and the private sector. Generic substitution of medines that are no longer under patent is an important part of the law. This means that a pharmacist must offer a patient the generic version of a brand name medicine. A generic medicine is a drug with the same quality active ingredient that a brand name drug. Another element of the Medicines Act is the introduction of a pricing committee that will set up transparent pricing mechanisms. Pharmaceutical companies will have to justify the prices they charge. The third part of this law is the parallel importation provision - known as section 15C of the Medicines Act. This measure allows the government to import the same medicine sold by the same company or its licensee at a lower price in another country. The Medicines Act also allows international tendering for medicines used in the public sector. On 18 February 1998, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA) and forty multinational drug companies tried to stop the Medicines Act by going to Court against the South African government. After nearly three years of delays and counter-delays, the case will be heard in the Pretoria High Court from 5th - 12th March 2001. In this period of delay, more than 400 000 people have died of AIDS-related illnesses. Many people have died because they cannot afford expensive medicines. But why are the drug companies taking the government to court? Across the world, drug companies made sales of more than $315 billion in 2000. This is more than the gross domestic product of all the 12 countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Fortune Magazine has shown that the drug companies make super-profits. The drug companies complain that the government is trying to expropriate its property and that it is giving the Minister of Health too much power. In fact, they fear competition and being exposed as organisations that profiteer from medicines. Conclusion The Medicines Act deserves the support of all people in South Africa and internationally. It is an attempt to improve health care by lowering the price of essential medicines. In a country with over four million people living with HIV, this is especially important. If the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association succeed with their legal action, it will be an enormous blow, and could delay by many years the possibility of affordable medicines and quality health care for poor people in South Africa and throughout the developing world.
Endorse Open Letter for 5 March 2001 International Letter on SA Court Case Copied below is the text of a letter that we would like you to support. The aim is to try to get it published as a letter to the editor in as many key newspapers around the world as possible, signed by as many groups as possible, on the 5th of March, in solidarity with South Africa as their court case with the pharmaceutical companies begins about legislation that would increase access to medicines. The letter could also be used as text for an advertisement if groups in a country thought that appropriate and had the funds needed. This letter is being sent out by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in South Africa and Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) in UK to international contacts we know are working on this issue, but because we want as many groups as possible to sign up, please forward it to your own contacts. To sign up to this `international letter on SA court case' please email campaigns@actsa.org with name of signatory, name of organisation and contact details. The deadline is 28 February. On the 1 March we will send a complete list of signers to everyone. It may be helpful if each country could nominate a contact point for us to help co-ordinate the placement of this letter in the press in their country. Please do also let us know is you are planning any solidarity actions or protests on the 5 March.
text of 'international letter on SA court case' To: The Editor 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. Signed:
Many thanks & look forward to campaigning together. In solidarity,
Mark Heywood
Aditi Sharma
MEDICINE ACCESS IN SOUTH AFRICA Updated 2/23/01 [to check for more recent versions see http://www.globaltreatmentaccess.org or http://www.tac.org.za BIG PHRMA SUES GOVERMENT TO BLOCK AFFORDABLE MEDICINE TREATMENT ACTION CAMPAIGN (TAC) CALLS FOR GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST DRUG COMPANY PROFITEERING AND PATENT ABUSE: MARCH 5, 2001 SOUTH AFRICA GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION: TAC calls on people in every country to mobilise against drug company profiteering on Monday 5 March 2001. On this day, the court action by more than 40 multinational drug companies against the South African government will be heard in the Pretoria High Court. TAC will mobilise actions against drug companies throughout the week 5-12 March 2001. ABOUT THE CALL TO ACTION: The March 5 Global Day of Solidarity was initiated by South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a grassroots advocacy organization which has been struggling to make anti-AIDS drugs available to South Africa's estimated 4.2 million people living with HIV. TAC calls on people in every country to mobilise against drug company profiteering on Monday 5 March 2001. On this day, the action by more than 40 multinational drug companies against the South African government will be heard in the Pretoria High Court. Millions of people will die from HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, if the drug companies succeed in their action. A victory for the drug companies in this case will set back the struggle for access to essential medicines in all countries. TAC will mobilise actions against drug companies throughout the week 5-12 March 2001. MOBLISE LOCAL AND GLOBAL ACTION AGAINST DRUG COMPANIES The drug companies, Glaxo SmithKline, Bristol-Meyer Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Abbott and many others will try to stop the South African government's attempt to make medicines affordable to all its people. The law passed by the country's first democratic Parliament under the leadership of former President Mandela is now under attack. TAC calls on all people to oppose the drug companies and to support the legislation. CALENDAR OF ACTIONS AUSTRALIA Sydney: 3 March: Global Treatments Access Network (Aust) group in the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade on night of 3 March. -- Contact roblake@netspace.net.au. 17 Feb to 5 March: Gathering signatures for open letter to Glaxo SmithKline. BRAZIL
Brazilian activists will use the international day of action to
launch a campaign to make Brazilians aware of the PMA court case
against the South African government and the US complaint against
Brazil at the WTO. -- Contact Ezio Santos-Filho CANADA Vancouver: 12:00, Protest outside the World Trade Centre at Canada Place, right beside the Pan Pacific Hotel, Waterfront SkyTrain. Protest against the USA government using the WTO to protect pharmaceutical company profits and the PMA lawsuit against South Africa. -- Contact paulab@parc.org or phone 893-2239. FRANCE Paris: ACT-UP Paris is organising an action in the financial district. -- Contact Khalil at gerrold@wanadoo.fr. ITALY Rome: 1 March, 2001: Activists are organising a postcard campaign against TRIPS. The postcards will be delivered to the Italian Prime Minister. Contact Mauro Guarinieri m.guarinieri@agora.stm.it or Italian Community Advisory Board (i.cab@libero.it) or phone +39 051 26 16 76 or mobile +39 347 96 31 837. SOUTH AFRICA
Cape Town: 12:00, US Consulate -- Contact TAC Cape Town office :
(021) 364 5489 UNITED STATES Berkeley, California 12:00, Bayer plant front gates, 7th and Parker Streets, picket, rally and voluntary non-violent civil disobedience under the slogan "Stop Medical Apartheid". Speakers include Berkeley Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek, Berkeley Councillor Kriss Worthington, San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzales, Bongane Nyatai from South Africa, California Nurses Association, Father Bill O'Donnell, Rev. Mark Wilson, and Act Up/East Bay. Info: (510)568-1680. johnnyi@surfree.com Philadelphia : (Time unknown) Starts at Glaxo Headquarters in Philadelphia and then moves by bus to Washington to demonstrate outside White House and PhRMA (DC targets are tentative). Contact katie@critpath.org. New York City : 12:00 PM, 59th Street and 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Rally and march to GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol Myers Squibb offices. Take the N/R to 60th street ; or B/Q to 57th and 6th Ave. Contact Cindra Feuer at cindraf66@yahoo.com or Sharonann Lynch at salynch@globaltreatmentaccess.org. Boston: 2:00, State House. Rally calling on Massachusetts state and federal representatives to take a stand on the issue of affordable AIDS drugs for Africa, on pharmaceutical companies to drop their lawsuit against affordable medications in South Africa; on the U.S. government to drop WTO complaint against Brazil. Contact bgan-aids@yahoogroups.com or Amy Farber afarber@wjh.harvard.edu.
Documents previously distributed in the e-journal are
available on the Africa Action website: To be added to or dropped from the e-journal subscription list, write to e-journal@africaaction.org. For more information about reposted material, please contact directly the source mentioned in the posting.
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Africa Policy E-Journal
