Dear President Bush,

On March 5, 2001 forty-two plaintiffs will begin their oral arguments before the High Court in Pretoria on their three-year old lawsuit against the South African Government, regarding the South Africa Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act (hereinafter, "the Medicines Act").

The Medicines Act was instituted in 1997 as an effort by then-President Nelson Mandela to rectify inequity in medication access that was a legacy of apartheid. The Medicines Act calls for the institution of provisions that would broaden access to essential, affordable medication. Given the absolutely devastating crisis in lack of access to affordable medication to treat HIV disease, which currently infects one in five South Africans, the Medicines Act is practical legislation that is desperately needed. The pharmaceutical industry and its trade groups, however, have fought the Medicines Act for years, claiming it unfairly abrogates the patent rights of the pharmaceutical industry.

The preceding United States Administration pressured South Africa to abandon the Medicines Act from 1997 until 1999, in close collaboration with representatives of the United States pharmaceutical industry. After considerable civil society pressure from the United States and from South Africa, the former Administration shifted its position favorably. Recently, the office of the United States Trade Representative reasserted the intention of your Administration to maintain "flexibility" regarding intellectual property, and access to medicines in sub Saharan Africa and other regions of the developing world.

However, it is not enough simply to reassert that the policy will remain unchanged. Now is the time, before this precedent-setting lawsuit has its first day in court on March 5, to take action, and to officially and publicly repudiate the long-standing lawsuit against South Africa's Medicines Act. Health GAP requests that you denounce the lawsuit, and that you clearly state your support for South Africa's right to use legal measures to make access to affordable medication a reality. In coordination with stated Administration position, Health GAP finally requests that you officially retract the October 4, 1997 letter from former U.S. Ambassador James Joseph to Dr. Abe Nkomo of the South Africa Portfolio Committee on Health, which argues the United States opposition to the Medicines Act, and inform President Thabo Mbeki of that retraction.

You must affirm the importance of South Africa's efforts to obtain affordable medication for its 4.3 million citizens with HIV/AIDS, as well as all other citizens suffering and dying from otherwise treatable diseases.

Sincerely,

Asia Russell
for the Health GAP Coalition

cc:
Colin Powell, United States Secretary of State
Tommy Thompson, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
Eric Goosby, Director, Office of HIV/AIDS Policy, Department of Health and
Human Services
Robert Zoellick, United State Trade Representative
Joseph Papovich, Assistant USTR for Services, Investment, and
Intellectual Property
The Congressional Black Caucus

Back to Top