ABSTRACT
On 19 April 2001, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of South Africa and 39 multinational pharmaceutical companies unconditionally dropped their case against the South African government. The South African government had passed the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act (‘Medicines Act’) in 1997, which allowed importation of affordable medicines and increased use of generic drugs. This legislation was opposed by the US government and the European Union, in support of their pharmaceutical companies, objecting to the legitimization of parallel importing and compulsory licensing, claiming that it was at variance with World Trade Organization obligations (Thomas, 2002). The US government applied trade pressures against the South African government, while the 39 pharmaceutical companies submitted their case to the Pretoria High Court in 1998. The industry’s court action was widely and publicly denounced by 140 NGOs from 130 countries who had signed the global ‘Drop the Case’ petition (MSF, 2001).
