(These messages are reprinted from the electronic list serv E-drug.
English-language translation of the material was provided by MSF.)

German minister calls on industry to withdraw from SA case
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Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
Press Release Development Policy

Nr. 22/2001 Berlin/Bonn, March 5, 2001
Wieczorek-Zeul calls on the pharmaceutical industry
to withdraw its suit against South Africa

The 39 pharmaceutical companies have sued the South African government because of their implementation of a law allowing the
production and use of cheaper AIDS medications. The Minister of Development Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul appealed to the
pharmaceutical companies to withdraw their suit as legal proceedings began in a South African court. "South Africa has to
ward off a national catastrophe," declared the Minister. According to UNAIDS estimates, almost 20 percent of all adults in South
Africa are infected with the AIDS virus. The World Trade Organization's so-called TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property
Rights) agreement, which aims to protect intellectual property rights, explicitly provides for countries loosening patent protections
on medications in the case of national emergencies so that generic medications can be produced and imported instead of the original name-brand medications. "Actually it should be clear that the devastating spread of AIDS represents a national emergency," said Wieczorek-Zeul. As a result, pharmaceutical companies should not file suit, but work together with developing countries to find feasible ways to provide affordable medications for people infected with the AIDS virus in poorer regions of the world. "We don't need confrontation, but cooperation," the Minister emphasized.

In her view, this cooperative approach was embodied by the agreement of five international pharmaceutical companies with the
United Nations to offer their medications at substantially reduced prices in developing countries - a first step which should be
followed by further progress.

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Green MEPs on the SA court case

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".