Johannesburg, 21 July – The Fix the Patent Laws campaign calls on the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (dtic) to urgently release the Patent Bill for public comment. Despite repeated promises the long-awaited Bill – that could pave the way for a new era in access to medicines in South Africa – remains unpublished. “The dtic […]
READ MORE
Media Statement: Thousands are dying and suffering because they can’t access patented medicines. The time to Fix South Africa’s Patent Laws is now! 8 November 2021 — Activists from the Fix The Patent Laws Campaign will march to the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) tomorrow 9 November 2021 to urge the government to […]
READ MORE
MEDIA ADVISORY: ACTIVISTS TO MARCH TO DEPARTMENT OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COMPETITION TO #FIXPATENTLAW ON 9 NOV 2021 People in South Africa are needlessly suffering and dying because many patented medicines are unaffordable. The time to Fix South Africa’s Patent Laws is now! 5 November 2021 — Activists from the Fix The Patent Laws Campaign […]
READ MORE
The letter reproduced below was sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa on 19 May 2020 by more than 80 leading academics, researchers and teachers in South Africa. They urge the President to urgently reform South Africa’s patent laws and take further steps to ensure access to COVID-19 related health products. The original letter can be accessed […]
READ MORE
Johannesburg, 18th May — In a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa published today, the Fix the Patent Laws (FTPL) coalition outlined major concerns about South Africa’s ability to access future treatments or vaccines for COVID-19. They point out that the country’s outdated patent laws ensure that when effective treatments become available, they will likely be too […]
READ MORE
This article was originally published in Spotlight here. 20th April 2020 | Prof Yousuf Vawda and Prof Brook K. Baker The path to patent law reform in South Africa has been long and arduous. But the need for finalisation of legislation is now even more urgent given the COVID-19 pandemic and the expected rush to […]
READ MORE
This article was originally published on Spotlight here. 15th April 2020 | Catherine Tomlinson Around the turn of the century developing countries, led by African countries, dramatically fought for and won safeguards to promote access to medicines in international trade law. These safeguards are now being heralded by lawmakers around the world as critical legal […]
READ MORE
Johannesburg (9 July 2019) — It was announced today that lenalidomide, a lifesaving medicine to treat multiple myeloma, has been included on the latest edition of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Essential Medicines List (EML). Welcoming the inclusion of lenalidomide on the list, among 5 new cancer medicines, the Fix the Patent Laws campaign (a […]
READ MORE
Contact: Ngqabutho Mpofu (Treatment Action Campaign): 27 61 807 6443| ngqabutho.mpofu@tac.org.za Lotti Rutter (Health GAP): +27 82 065 5842| lotti@healthgap.org (Durban, South Africa)— Today activists stormed the corporate stall of multinational pharmaceutical company Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) at the 9th South African AIDS Conference. The activists demanded that Janssen urgently drop the price of […]
READ MORE
Statement from 64 civil society organisations and coalitions ahead of the second meeting of the Fair Pricing Forum, hosted by the World Health Organization and South African government April 11-13th in Johannesburg. The Fair Pricing Forum will ask what is a fair price for a medicine? We accept that different stakeholders will have different understandings […]
READ MORE