Fight against U S pharmaceutical giant hots up health-e.org.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from health-e.org.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Treatment Action Campaign and Doctors Without Borders Southern Africa are fighting for easier access to a cystic fibrosis drug that costs a steep R5 million per patient, per year.
IOL | News that Connects South Africans iol.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from iol.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In what could be a groundbreaking case for affordable access to medicines in South Africa, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Southern Africa, both represented by SECTION27, have filed papers in the Pretoria High Court to intervene as amici curiae (friends of the court) in a compulsory license application for access to a lifesaving drug to treat cystic fibrosis, called Trikafta. Cystic fibrosis is a severe multisystem illness that can cause frequent serious lung infections, including antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, liver and pancreatic damage, lung failure, and can even necessitate lung transplant.
The disappointing WTO outcome increases the urgency for domestic intellectual property law reform in the interests of public health and the realisation of people's constitutional right to access healthcare services, write Candice Sehoma and Baone Twala.