Posts Tagged "Pharmaceutical"

Patents and Public Health – The New Frontier

Posted on Mar 4, 2014

Patents and Public Health – The New Frontier

The long-awaited South African draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (the draft IP Policy) which was published on 4 September 2013 (read the policy here) has recently led to an unfortunate furore in the press. On 17 January 2014 Money MSN published a report based on a document that was leaked from the Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa (IPASA), an industry lobby group comprising the local subsidiaries of innovator pharmaceutical companies. The document is a plan for a campaign prepared by U.S.-based consultancy Public Affairs Engagement,  to delay and modify the...

Read More

Public Health Sector and the South African National Policy on Intellectual Property

Posted on Jan 24, 2014

Public Health Sector and the South African National Policy on Intellectual Property

The publication of the South African National Policy on intellectual property (SANIPP) in September 2013 has opened a proverbial can of worms and the Pharmaceutical industry is up in arms. The SANIPP proposes the introduction of stronger IP rights through the introduction of, amongst others, pre-and post-grant opposition proceedings, and makes reference to the introduction of compulsory licensing provisions in the Patents Act.  Whilst the focus is on various industries, the matter of public health and the pharmaceutical industry forms a central theme of the SANIPP. The Innovative...

Read More

The Great Pharmaceutical Patent Debate

Posted on Nov 18, 2011

The Great Pharmaceutical Patent Debate

In recent news, the TAC (Treatment Action Campaign) has called on government to revise the Patents Act to reduce the patent protection available to pharmaceutical inventions, which the organisation believes is responsible for the high cost of medicines and a delay in the availability of generic medicines. The organisation refers to the Doha Declaration, which has been signed by South Africa as a member of the World Trade Organisation, to support its call. “Government has not yet been proactive in utilising these mechanisms” There is no denying that the impact of diseases such as...

Read More