U.S. CAPITULATION TO SOUTH AFRICA MAY SAVE THOUSANDS OF LIVES

"The announcement today that the United States will stop bullying South Africa to abandon efforts to make essential medicines available to its population may save thousands of lives," says Robert Weissman, co-director of Essential Action, a corporate accountability group founded by Ralph Nader.

The U.S. Trade Representative and the South African government today announced an agreement by which the United States would cease pressuring South Africa on the issues of compulsory licensing and parallel imports, two mechanisms to lower the price of pharmaceuticals. Compulsory licensing enables a government to authorize generic production of a product while it is still on patent, with royalties paid to the patent holder. Parallel imports involves imports of drugs retailed in one country for resale in another, so that the parallel importing country can benefit from lower prices elsewhere in the world.

Through its Medicines Act, South Africa has sought to make use of these two tools, but the United States had threatened trade sanctions against South Africa if it implemented its law.

"Until the terms of the agreement are known, we cannot be sure the United States intends to operate in good faith," cautioned Weissman. "The agreement appears to call only for South Africa to agree to comply with its obligations under the World Trade Organization intellectual property agreement -- which South Africa has repeatedly declared it would do."

"If the U.S. position has in fact changed, it is largely due to the courageous activities of AIDS activists who forced the issue on to the public agenda," Weissman said.

"The announcement today appears to be a crucial victory, not only for people with AIDS but others in South Africa who may soon gain access to essential medicines they would otherwise go without," Weissman said. "But much more needs to be done -- the United States must internationalize the agreement with South Africa, so other nations can employ compulsory licensing and parallel imports without fear of repercussion. And the U.S. should immediately license the patent rights it holds to essential medicines to the World Health Organization, which could then disseminate low-priced versions of the medicines worldwide."

For more on these issues, see the web site of Essential Action's colleague group, the Consumer Project on Technology,

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