Johannesburg — TAC spokesperson Jack Lewis told iClinic that the department of health has been given a two-week deadline in which to give a temporary license to distribute HIV/AIDS generic drug Biozole in SA, of which the AIDS activists have imported 5 000 capsules in defiance of patent laws.

The TAC has handed 3 000 of the 5 000 tablets over to the department of health for safekeeping, until the Medicines Control Council can test the drug's safety and assess whether it can be registered for use in SA. 2 000 of the tablets are still in Thailand.

The TAC has not been charged with the illegal importation of the drug, but the police is investigating.

"We have a strong suspicion based on a number of coincidences that Pfizer is behind the charge laid against the TAC made by Medicines Control Council Helen Rees on Thursday," says Lewis. "We also believe Pfizer has put pressure on government to condemn our action."

The TAC landed itself into legal trouble when it announced on Tuesday that it had imported 5 000 Biozole capsules from Thailand, a generic of Pfizer's Fluconazole, at far below the latter's price.

Their action defied Pfizer's patent on Fluconazole and was condemned by Rees and Tshabalala Msimang for being illegal.

Lewis was speaking after Chair of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) Zackie Achmat met with police on Friday to hand over the sample of generic drugs.

"I will hand over a sample of the drug which they need for their investigations and lets just hope they will be nice about the whole affair," Achmat told Sapa on Thursday night.

He said the meeting, scheduled for 10am at the Belville police station, was an attempt by TAC to "work things out".

TAC said in a statement that it had begun to establish a network of doctors and pharmacists who would prescribe high quality, low cost generic medicines imported from countries such as Thailand and Brazil.

Fluconazole is used to treat cryptococcal meningitis and thrush in the vagina and throat, diseases susceptible to people living with HIV/AIDS.

According to the TAC, the drug company Pfizer sells Fluconazole for R80.24 per capsule to the private sector and R28.57 per capsule to the public sector, while the Thai equivalent costs R1.78. The move is part of the body's defiance campaign against 'patent abuse and AIDS profiteering' by multinational pharmaceutical companies.

The National Prosecutor will now decide whether to prosecute Achmat for illegally importing the drugs while the MCC will be assessing the drug' safety.

TAC Chair Zackie Achmat says their acts are aimed at Pfizer, not the health department and said they were very disappointed at Medicines Control Council head Helen Rees for putting "patents before patients". Speaking on SABC radio on Friday, Achmat launched severe criticism at Rees, asking in how far she is influenced by Pfizer.

The TAC landed itself into legal trouble when it announced on Tuesday that it had imported 5 000 Biozole capsules from Thailand, a generic of Pfizer's Fluconazole, at far below the latter's price. Their action defied Pfizer's patent on Fluconazole and was condemned by Rees for being illegal.

Rees laid a criminal charge against the TAC on Thursday, and the TAC handed its entire consignment over to the police on Friday.

Cosatu has called for an international day of action against the drug companies on December 1, and the action by the TAC has received widespread support from the SA coalition of non-governmental organisations.

"There is tremendous pressure from the pharmaceutical industry whose sales worldwide is double that of our economy," says Achmat. "We want to help our government to get the drugs to the people."

He says Rees' only legal job in SA is to ensure the safety and efficacy of medicines.

"We have ensured we have the bioequialent study, that the medicines we brought into this country were of the best quality, the World Health Organisation itself has inspected that factory, Medecines sans Frontieres in Thailand brought out an international pharmacist to inspect the plant and our actions were explained to Rees by one of our legal representatives on Thursday," says Achmat.

"We find her actions quite bizarre, because we made it very clear that she is not there to police drugs. The drug has become available, we applied for a section 21 exemption, we expected her to understand our motives and to understand that they were not criminal in intent.

"Our intentions are to save people's lives. We only ask Rees and all doctors and stakeholders involved to put their patients before their patents," says Achmat.

TAC said in a statement that it had begun to establish a network of doctors and pharmacists who would prescribe high quality, low cost generic medicines imported from countries such as Thailand and Brazil.

Fluconazole is used to treat cryptococcal meningitis and thrush in the vagina and throat, diseases susceptible to people living with HIV/AIDS.

According to the TAC, the drug company Pfizer sells Fluconazole for R80.24 per capsule to the private sector and R28.57 per capsule to the public sector, while the Thai equivalent costs R1.78. The move is part of the body's defiance campaign against 'patent abuse and AIDS profiteering' by multinational pharmaceutical companies.

The National Prosecutor will now decide whether to prosecute Achmat for illegally importing the drugs while the MCC will be assessing the drug's safety.