TAC has been admitted as Amicus Curiae in the docetaxel patent challenge between Cipla and Aventis. The case will be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, Free State on 15 May 2012. Today SECTION27 filed the Heads of Argument on behalf of TAC which can be accessed here
READ MORELeena Menghaney of Médecins Sans Frontières India discusses the battle of Indian activists in fighting for pro-public health intellectual property laws and the ongoing threats to the provisions to protect health in India’s laws. The recording, provided from Community Media Trust, was shot at an open lecture hosted by TAC and MSF at the University […]
READ MORETAC congratulates Kenyan activists for their work to combat the 2008 Anti-Counterfeit Act in Kenya. If adopted, the Act would have severely compromised medicine access in Kenya by including vague definitions of counterfeit medicines that could extend to generic medicines. If adopted as written, the act would have allowed authorities to seize generic medicine under […]
READ MOREBusiness Day reports on TAC’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal to consider public health in patent dispute http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=170179
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 MOREThe South African government recently announced plans to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in partnership with the Swiss based company Lonza Ltd. APIs are the active ingredients that are used to produce medicines. Medicines also contain inactive ingredients called excipients. South Africa has a relatively large and competitive generic pharmaceutical industry made up of a […]
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 MOREGlobally, South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV. Yet many antiretroviral medicines, including the medicines used to treat people failing on 2nd line antiretroviral therapy, are not provided in the public sector. 3rd line medicine are expensive as they are under patent and no generic versions of these medicines are available. […]
READ MORE