18 October 2000
Cape Town, South Africa — South Africa's official opposition Democratic Alliance Wednesday condemned the importation of generic Aids medication by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), saying it is illegal and criminal.
This follows the announcement Tuesday that a TAC representative had smuggled a generic version of the drug Fluconazole, manufactured by Pfizer, into the country in contravention of both patent law and Medicines Controls Council rulings.
(TAC) leader Zackie Achmat returned from Thailand with 5,000 fluconazole tablets, used to treat infections associated with HIV, which he bought for 25 US cents each.
The state pays manufacturer Pfizer four dollars for fluconazole, and the private sector pays 11 dollars.
Achmat said his aim was to expose the profiteering by pharmaceutical companies "who are abusing their patents to condemn people to death from illnesses that are treatable".
Kobus Gous, DA Spokesman on AIDS, said Medicine control measures are in place to ensure that black market developing does not occur.
"No quality control would be possible and no medication would be registered. Under those circumstances, medicine could not only be dangerous but also prove to be fatal.
This step by the TAC is the thin end of the wedge for the collapse of medicine control. Any doctor dispensing these drugs to his patients would also be an accomplice to the illegal actions of the TAC," he said.
Leading pharmaceutical company Generix International said the importing of generic drugs without the approval of the SA Medicines Controls Council and in breach of international patent rights set a dangerous precedent.
Generix chief executive Iqbal Moosa said South Africans have a right to affordable, first world medical care and drugs that extend human life and limit suffering and pain.
"However, emotions aside, when anyone illegally imports generic drugs without the go-ahead of the Medicines Controls Council the consequences can be tragic," he said.
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