Word: generics
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...Even before they surrendered in their courtroom battle to stop generic imports, the pharmaceutical corporations had lost their case in the court of public opinion - in no small measure due to the efforts of Achmat and his fellow campaigners. Still, the battle isn't over. Now that the drug companies have stepped aside from the dispute over importing generics, Achmat and his colleagues will have to fight to convince the South African government to commit billions of dollars to the fight to keep almost 5 million AIDS patients alive. And for Achmat, as much as any of them, the clock...
...affected by the pandemic from importing or manufacturing cheap copies of AIDS treatments. Legal representatives of 39 international pharmaceutical manufacturers acknowledged as much Thursday, when they ran up the white flag in a Pretoria courtroom, withdrawing their suit challenging South African legislation that authorizes the government to begin importing generic AIDS-treatment drugs...
...above the fate of the more than 4 million South Africans infected with HIV. In the end, those corporations lost the will to stand between South Africa's infected community and access to the cheapest possible treatments - manufacturers in Brazil, India and Thailand, for example, are able to supply generic versions of the drugs at a fraction of the price charged by the Western pharmaceutical corporations that hold the patents...
...precedent they've established, particularly in light of the forthcoming case being brought by the U.S. against Brazil at the World Trade Organization. Brazil may be substantially wealthier than South Africa, but it, too, has millions of people living in poverty, and the supply of locally manufactured generic AIDS drugs has cut deaths from the disease by half over the past four years. The South Africa decision will raise the pressure to back off on Brazil, too, which would reinforce the principle that the intellectual property rights of drug companies can be ignored by governments responding to public health crises...
...governments facing AIDS crises throughout the developing world have followed the South Africa case with interest, and will be encouraged by its outcome. Although sales to Africa, for example, count for some 1 percent of the market of AIDS-drugs manufacturers, the corporations fear that allowing the import of generic versions in those markets could lead to challenges elsewhere: Black market sales in Western markets, for example, or even direct challenges by infected communities in the industrialized world questioning why they're being asked to pay $15,000 a year for anti-retroviral treatments available elsewhere for $700 a year...