Pressemeddelelser om retssagen

Pressemeddelelser om retssagen i Sydafrika

ATTAC-gruppe frigiver ny opfindelse

- Novo og Lundbeck tilbydes pille mod grådighed

I dag åbnes 39 medicinalvirksomheders retssag mod den sydafrikanske stat. Virksomhederne angriber en sydafrikansk lov, som skal sikre adgang til billig medicin, bl.a. for landets mere end 4 millioner HIV-smittede. Virksomhederne mener, at loven antaster deres patentrettigheder.

I den anledning har ATTAC’s patentgruppe efter moden overvejelse besluttet at frigive en banebrydende ny opfindelse. Det er en pille mod grådighed. Gruppen håber, at de to danske selskaber som deltager i retssagen, Novo og Lundbeck, vil gå foran og bruge deres faciliteter til at sikre en hurtig og omfattende produktion.

Stine Jessen fra ATTAC’s patentgruppe udtaler:

- Siden vi blev bekendt med medicinalselskabernes sagsanlæg, har vores naturvidenskabelige komité arbejdet på højtryk for at finde en formel. Det må nu stå klart for enhver, at vi står over for en meget alvorlig epidemi, som kan koste mange menneskeliv.

- Et øjeblik overvejede vi at udtage patent på pillen, men det forslag faldt heldigvis med et brag, efter vi selv havde smagt.

- Vi har besluttet at give opfindelsen fri i håbet om, at det kan føre til stor produktion, så vi kan få bugt med epidemien. Til en start vil vi forære Novo og Lundbeck opskriften. De har jo faciliteterne, og er jo selv mere end bekendt med epidemien. Faktisk håber vi, at ledelsen i de to foretagender starter med at ordinere sig selv en akut behandling.

Yderligere oplysninger hos Stine Jessen på tlf. 33 24 77 93

Lider De af GRÅDIGHED? Gravis incontinentia Profitis.
Får De sure opstød eller hovedpine, når De hører om faldende aktiekurser?
Bliver De svimmel, når De tænker på penge?
Har De prøvet at vågne om natten, stakåndet, badet i sved og med hamrende hjerte, fordi De i drømme havde mistet Deres formue?
Bliver De svedig i håndfladerne og stakåndet, hvis De ser en tegnebog ligge på fortovet?
I dagene op til offentliggørelse af virksomhedens årsregnskabet, bliver De da ofte svedig i håndfladerne og stakåndet?

Her er det perfekte svar på Deres sygdom:
ANTI-GRÅDIGHEDSKUREN!

COSATU/TAC - Joint media statement

Put lives before profits!
Defend the Medicines Act!
Campaign for affordable treatment for HIV/AIDS and all other illnesses!

Cosatu and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), are once again calling upon all their members and the whole community to join protests outside the Pretoria High Court from 18th-25th April against the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA). We are calling on everyone to make a sacrifice to attend this demonstration on a crucial issue of worldwide significance.

More than four million people in South Africa are infected with HIV/AIDS. It has claimed more lives than any war. We cannot stand aside and let millions more die. Our protest has won the support of millions around the world. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and countless unions and NGOs internationally have supported us.
We thank all those who have given this support and ask them to continue until we are victorious.

In particular we welcome the decision of the French Government to call upon French pharmaceutical companies to withdraw from the case. We demand that any French companies still taking part in the action withdraw from the case and call upon all other overnments to follow the French example.

If the PMA succeeds, it will be an enormous blow for poor people in South Africa, and of the whole world, especially the poor Southern half of the world and sub-Saharan Africa.

We demand that the PMA unconditionally withdraw their court action against our Government in their bid to try to stop the implementation of an Act that aims to make it possible to provide the sick and the poor with cheaper medicines.

At the hearing, TAC, who have been accepted as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) will submit legal arguments as to why this law is necessary. TAC brings to the court the perspective of people living with HIV/AIDS and the poor.

In 1997 the South African government passed the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act, to make drugs more affordable and to improve the functioning of the Medicines Control Council.

Cosatu supports this law because it introduced a legal framework to make medicines more available and affordable
in the public sector, through:

1. Generic substitution of medicines - drugs of the same quality and active ingredient.
2. A pricing committee – which sets up a transparent pricing mechanism and forces drug companies to justify their prices.
3. Parallel importation – which allows the government to import the same medicines sold by the same companies, or its licensee, at a lower price in another country.
4. International tendering for medicines used in the public sector.

In 2000 alone, drug companies around the world made sales of more that $315 billion - more that the gross domestic product of all SADC countries. So why are these companies taking the government to court?

· They claim the government is trying to “expropriate or confiscate their property” and giving Minister of Health “too much power”.
· They fear competition and being exposed as profiteering from medicines;
· They say that mandatory generic substitution is unfair and discriminatory.
· They argue that the quality of generics will be much lower than their products.

In reality, their main concern is that these measures will have a negative impact on their massive profits.

The Medicines Act deserves the support of all people in South Africa and internationally. It attempts to improve the health care system by lowering the price of essential medicines. This is very crucial for people living with HIV/AIDS as well as people with many other serious illnesses.

For further information please phone Theo Steele on 011 339 4911

Siphiwe Mgcina
COSATU Spokesperson