E-drug: Green MEPs on the SA court case
---------------------------------------------
From Ellen 't Hoen
MSF
EHOEN@paris.msf.org (ellen t hoen)
THE GREENS/EUROPEAN FREE ALLIANCE IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
PRESS RELEASE - Brussels, 5 March 2001
Stop drugs scandal, say Greens/EFA
South Africa's drug industry case - branded immoral
The Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament is calling on the
multinational pharmaceutical industry to withdraw its legal action
against the South African government over the import of cheaper anti-AIDS
drugs from the parallel market. In a landmark court case in Pretoria today
on intellectual property rights in developing countries, the power and
influence of the large pharmaceutical companies to will be put to the
test.
Paul Lannoye MEP, (Belgium) Co-President of the Greens/EFA Group,
said:
"At the point where the South African government has adopted a more
enlightened policy on HIV and AIDS, the multinational pharmaceutical
giants are seeking to prevent the government from doing so. By using the
patents right argument they seek to prohibit the importation and
distribution of cheaper drugs. It is a well established principle of
international trade law, included in the WTO Agreement on Trade Related
Intellectual Property (TRIPs), that in cases of national emergency, such
patent rights can be set aside by any country. Where
generically equivalent
but significantly cheaper drugs can be imported from the
so-called 'parallel'
market, it is simply immoral for the industry to take such legal action".
Only last week, through the Gemelli Report on Community Development
Policy, did the European Parliament call for the granting of
free licences for
manufacturing and marketing appropriate medicines in cases of health
emergencies. Following that debate, Dr. Didier-Claude Rod MEP
(France), commented:
"This profoundly anti-social legal action shows how deep is the fault
line between the international patent regime and the real
medical needs of
people in fighting a scourge such as HIV/AIDS. The Brazilian and
Indian governments have also been targeted in an attempt to close the
market in cheaper alternative sources of such drugs".