The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) welcomes the approval by the US Food and Drug Administration of the antiretroviral medicine dolutegravir. This is a new integrase inhibitor (brand name Tivicay) that could potentially become a vital drug in the global struggle against HIV. TAC calls on all parties involved to ensure widespread availability of Dolutegravir in […]
READ MOREPRETORIA – The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) today delivered a memorandum to the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) at the National Workshop on Intellectual Property and Public Health in Pretoria, outlining needed reforms to South Africa’s patent laws in order to expand access to more affordable drugs. The country’s […]
READ MOREThe TAC National Council has resolved to seek admission in a legal dispute between the brand name drug company Aventis Pharma and the generic company Cipla, over a claim of patent infringement on a drug that treats cancer called Docetaxel. SECTION27 will act as attorneys for TAC. This briefing note sets out the background to […]
READ MOREEarly this month, India issued its first ever compulsory license, for generic manufacture and sale of Sorafenib (brand name: Nexavar). Bayer was granted a patent on Sorafenib in India in 2008. After unsuccessfully negotiating with Bayer for a voluntary license, generic pharmaceutical company Natco Pharma Ltd applied for a compulsory license in July 2011. The Indian […]
READ MOREEsomeprazole highlights how South Africa’s medical schemes are paying the price for the country’s strict protection of intellectual property, coupled with weak standards of patentability. South Africa should amend its Patents Act to explicitly exclude new formulation medicines from patentability in order to reduce the cost of medicines. Additionally the fact that Esomeprazole retains market […]
READ MOREA critique of South Africa’s patent laws was published in the February 2012 issue of South African magazine Noseweek. The article further highlighted how our laws have allowed pharmaceutical giant Bayer to block generic versions of Yasmin from entering the market, retaining their monopoly on the popular birth control tablets. Read the article at http://www.noseweek.co.za/article/2678/Patent-trickery
READ MOREGeneric name: Linezolid Brand name: Zyvox and Zyvoxid Cost in South Africa: R282.25 per 600 mg tablet in the public sector and R593.01 per 600 mg tablet in the private sector (SEP ex VAT) Linezolid is used in the treatment of drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) and other serious infections. It is recommended to treat complicated […]
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