About three years ago the South African government, in an attempt to modernise an old legislation and to cope with the growing need for drugs to treat AIDS patients, amended the South African Medicines Act 1965 so that it could import the anti-retroviral drugs at the best price. At that time the price of these drugs in South Africa was among the highest in the world. The enactment of the amendment, expectedly, met with little approval from the international drug companies which had so far been the sole suppliers of the drug. The amendment, especially section 15 C, drew an uproar from the pharmaceutical industry. The industry saw in the legislation a challenge to the intellectual property rights afforded by the TRIPS agreement and roundly accused South Africa of violating its provisions. In the last two weeks several developments stemming from South Africa’s attempts to modernise its drug laws and provide health care to a growing patient population have thrown the pharmaceutical industry worldwide into turmoil, confronting it with need to take cognisance of humanitarian needs.
