EB134: Statement of South Africa on Access to Essential Medicines (in the wake of Pharmagate) | Knowledge Ecology International

"On Thursday, 23 January 2014, Malebona Precious Matsoso (Director General of the South African National Department of Health) delivered the the following intervention at the 134th session of the World Health Organization's Executive Board under agenda item 9.7 on Access to essential medicines in response to the recent Pharmagate imbroglio ... Chair, the recent leak by the multinational pharmaceutical industry of the strategy written by Public Affairs Engagement to undermine South Africa’s efforts to reform its Intellectual Property policies is unfortunate. One of the objectives of this policy is to contribute towards the protection and promotion of public health, and access to medicines in particular.  This is not the first time that South Africa has been under such an attack, even in the face of the most devastating HIV/AIDS and TB co-morbidities. The first time was when Nelson Mandela was the first respondent to the legal challenge.  In 2000, the cost of combination antiretroviral therapy per person per annum was US$10 000. In 2010, ten years later these costs had been reduced to USS$1 000 per person per annum. We have further reduced these costs by 50%. This would not have been possible without generic competition. This explains why today, South Africa has been able to put 2,4 million people on treatment. Today around 4% of South Africans are on second line antiretroviral therapy. This number must be increased to 14% for those who have been on ART for more than 5 years. We know the long-term problems of managing a life-long chronic disease and the challenges of patients who fail first line therapy, who must be put on second line and salvage therapy. We need to avoid virological failures and achieve good clinical and immunological outcomes. This will not be possible at current costs which are 2,5 times the cost of 1st-line therapy.  Similar arguments can be made regarding XDR-TB which is a killer and can be aggressively confronted with newer therapies, i.e. only if they are affordable. We have to put people on treatment that is affordable ..."