US law requires US Department of State to seek repeal of South African law on essential medicines

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

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Info-Policy-Notes | News from Consumer Project on Technology 
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April 7, 1999

       US law requires US Department of State to seek 
       repeal of South African law on essential medicines

       Vice President Gore plays key role in dispute


I found the following provision buried in last year's 423,911 
word appropriation bill.  This legislation requires the US
government to seek the repeal, suspension or termination of 
legislation in South Africa that authorizes parallel imports 
and compulsory licensing of medicines.  These are mechanisms 
the government of South Africa is trying to use to obtain less
expensive pharmacuetical drugs to combat a health care disaster.  
According to the US  Department of State, the author of this 
provision is Rep. Rodney  P. Frelinghuysen (R-NJ).  


How bad are things in South Africa?

It is estimated that 3.2 million South Africas are HIV positive, 
including a staggering 45 percent of the military.  One in five 
South African pregmant women test positive for HIV.

In the face of this horror, the US Congress and the Clinton/Gore
Administration is determined to prevent South African from using
its rights under international law and the WTO/Gatt agreement to 
obtain cheaper sources of essential medicines.  


   This is the provision in the US appropriations bill:
 

<---------------------Excerpt from PL 105-277---------------->  

*Public Law 105-277
105th Congress


                             An Act


 Making omnibus consolidated and emergency appropriations for the fiscal 
year ending September 30, 1999, and for other purposes. <<NOTE: Oct. 21, 
                         1998 -  [H.R. 4328]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in <<NOTE: Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency 
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999.>> Congress assembled,


    [snip]


Provided further, That 
none of the funds appropriated under this heading may be made available 
for assistance for the central Government of the Republic of South 
Africa, until the Secretary of State reports in writing to the 
appropriate committees of the Congress on the steps being taken by the 
United States Government to work with the Government of the Republic of 
South Africa to negotiate the repeal, suspension, or termination of 
section 15(c) of South Africa's Medicines and Related Substances Control 
Amendment Act No. 90 of 1997: 
 
   [snip]


<------------------End Excerpt from PL 105-277---------------->  

The disputes over the South African legislation have been focused 
on two issues, parallel importing of drugs, which would permit
South Africa to seek the cheapest world price for a drug (a practice
that is common in England and other members of the European Union), 
and compulsory licensing.

Under compulsory licensing, which is permited by the World Trade 
Organization under Article 31 of the TRIPS agreement on 
intellectual property, South Africa can issue a compulsory 
license for AIDS drugs like AZT, ddI or ddC, if it follows 
certain safeguards, and pays a government set royalty to the 
patent owner.  For some drugs this reduces the price by
70 to 95 percent, depending upon manufacturing costs. Several 
of the drugs that are candidates for compulsory licensing, 
including AZT, ddI and ddC, were developed by the US 
National Institutes of Health (NIH).  

Vice President Gore plays a large role in this dispute, as the
US Chair of the  US/South Africa Binational Commission (BNC).
According to the Vice President Gore's staff, on every occasion 
that Vice President Gore has meet with Thabo Mbeki, his South 
African counterpart, Gore has pressed South Africa on the 
intellectual property issues relating to pharmaceuticals.  
The Gore/Mbeki commission is considered a key instrument 
to pressure South African not to use compulsory licensing
of HIV/AIDS drugs.
   

For more information about this issue, see
 
 http://www.cptech.org/ip/health  
 http://lists.essential.org/pharm-policy
 http://www.cptech.org/march99-cl

For the pharmaceutical industry perspective, see the
PhRMA 301 submission to the United States Trade 
Representative (the document the US Department of
State has been providing to AIDS groups who ask
about US policy.)

http://www.phrma.org/issues/nte/safrica.html


  Jamie Love <love@cptech.org>
  Consumer Project on Technology
  202.387.8030
  http://www.cptech.org

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