Commercially reprocessed medical devices ‘as safe as originals’ Medical device reprocessors body sets the record straight after recent article on single-use devices By Daniel J Vukelich - 14 May 2021 Medi-Q MD Ebrahim Jappie. The company is ready to enter the regulatory framework SAHPRA created to allow South African-based commercial reprocessors to operate under the same standards as those in the US and Europe. Image: Medi-Q
Healthcare is at a critical juncture. There are limited resources, growing demands and increased damage done to our environment in delivering care. Covid-19 has revealed the vulnerability of our healthcare supply chain and worsened environmental waste and costs. The lessons learnt include a demand that we abandon our “disposable” healthcare culture and move to a more resilient, sustainable, circular cost-savings model.
Tripped up: All you need to know about the Covid-19 TRIPS waiver and what it may achieve for SA (and what it won’t) Franziska Sucker
Franziska Sucker
is associate professor at the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand
On 5 May 2021, following enormous pressure, ambassador Katherine Tai announced the US government’s support for waiving intellectual property (IP) protection for Covid-19 vaccines. The following morning, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, declared the EU ready to discuss the “US proposal” even while some European governments, especially Germany, vehemently opposed the idea.
This happened in response to the October 2020 joint waiver request made by South Africa and India. They proposed a waiver allowing World Trade Organization (WTO) members to suspend their obligations to apply several (
Maverick Citizen: Explainer
Tripped up: All you need to know about the Covid-19 TRIPS waiver and what it may achieve for SA (and what it won’t)
By Franziska Sucker• 11 May 2021
Activists outside Pfizer headquarters in Manhattan, New York demand that US President Joe Biden support the TRIPS waiver, which would lift the intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines.
(Photo: Steven Francis Kong)
A waiver would not be a global answer to the pandemic but would be a step in the right direction. It would remove the legal barriers that prevent cross-border cooperation in generic manufacturing of Covid-19 medical products as well as cross-border manufacturing capacity building – both long-term considerations. In the short and medium term a waiver would facilitate generic export to members in need (with limited and no manufacturing capacity, eg African countries) and simplify and potentially speed up generic production (for those with manufacturing capacity such as India)
Make access to Covid-19 vaccines possible
Wednesday December 30 2020
Summary
The greatest challenge was the fact that these pharmaceutical companies had patents for their products and, therefore, enjoyed intellectual property rights in respect to the HIV/Aids treatment
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In the 1990s when HIV/Aids was claiming many lives in Africa, especially in South Africa, American pharmaceutical companies had produced essential drugs that could save the situation.
However, these drugs were very expensive and could not, by any standards, be afforded by government in Africa.
The greatest challenge was the fact that these pharmaceutical companies had patents for their products and, therefore, enjoyed intellectual property rights in respect to the HIV/Aids treatment.