Reprinted under fair use

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)

March 13, 2001
Posted to the web March 13, 2001

Dakar, Senegal

The Dakar-based International Organisation of Consumers (IOC), Monday appealed to the international community to support the South African government in the case it is defending in court against 39 pharmaceutical firms, reports the Senegalese Press Agency (APS). The national and international pharmaceutical firms accused the South African government of initiating a law that would authorise the fabrication and importation of anti-AIDS generic drugs.

The IOC described the case as "reaffirming the primacy of public health interests over commercial considerations".

It should be recalled that in South Africa where 4.2 million people are HIV-positive, 10 percent of the population have no access to these drugs because they cannot afford them.

The trial which opened on 5 March, has been adjourned to 18 April.