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TAC paper responds to inaccurate industry claims following the pharmagate scandal

“The Economic & Social Case for Patent Law Reform in South Africa” Lotti Rutter and Catherine Tomlinson This updated research paper from the Treatment Action Campaign seeks to respond with reasoned analysis to a number of inaccurate claims that have been made by the pharmaceutical industry, particularly following the PharmaGate scandal. The evidence highlights how […]

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Pharmagate and the economics of patent law reform

A shortened version of this article was originally published in the Financial Mail of January 24-29. By Marcus Low, Treatment Action Campaign. We are deeply perturbed by revelations in last Friday’s Mail & Guardian exposing what appears to be a very well-funded, covert plot by foreign pharmaceutical companies and their local subsidiaries to delay a […]

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Statement of South Africa on Access to Essential Medicines (in the wake of Pharmagate)

This statement was originally published on the Knowledge Ecology International website by Thiru Balasubramaniam: On Thursday, 23 January 2014, Malebona Precious Matsoso (Director General of the South African National Department of Health) delivered the the following intervention at the 134th session of the World Health Organization’s Executive Board under agenda item 9.7 on Access to essential […]

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Patents: Reform or Lose

Article originally published by the NSP Review here. By Lotti Rutter, Treatment Action Campaign Achieving the National Strategic Plan (NSP) objectives depends on the effective use of the national health budget. But is there sufficient emphasis on value for money in the health sector at a time when South Africa is struggling to meet its […]

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COSATU reacts to big pharma’s plot to derail patent law reform in SA

On 18th January, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) put out the following statement in response to the #PharmaGate scandal – pertaining to a leaked international pharmaceutical industry plot to derail national plans for patent law reform in South Africa: “The Congress of South African Trade Unions condemns with the contempt it deserves […]

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TAC, SECTION27 and MSF react to PharmaGate

Today the Mail & Guardian published a story entitled – “Motsoaledi: Big pharma’s ‘satanic’ plot is genocide” regarding leaked documents revealing that the international pharmaceutical industry planned a $450,000 campaign against the proposed patent law reforms in South Africa. In reaction the Treatment Action Campaign’s General Secretary Vuyiseka Dubula made the following statement: “The Treatment Action Campaign […]

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What Patent Reform In Brazil And South Africa Can Mean

Article originally found on Pharmalot here. By Brook Baker In recent months, two countries with large economies and large populations both took steps to rework their patent laws, in part, to expand access to medicines. The moves come amid increasing concerns that treatments for certain ailments, such as AIDS and cancer, are out of reach for […]

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Brazilian civil society submission to the DTI on patent law reform in SA

On 17th October, the Working Group on Intellectual Property of the Brazilian Network for the Integration of Peoples (GTPI/REBRIP, acronym in Portuguese), coordinated by the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA, acronym in Portuguese), made a submission of recommendations to the South African Department of Trade and Industry on the Draft National Policy on IP. The […]

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