Box 1.

Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association of South Africa versus President of the Republic of South Africa. 1998 Case No 4183/98, filed 18 February 1998.

'In February 1998, the South African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and 39 multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers brought a law suit against the Government of South Africa, alleging that the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act, No. 90 of 1997 (“Medicines Act“) violated TRIPS and the South African constitution. Provisions of the Medicines Act included generic substitution of off-patent medicines, transparent pricing for all medicines, and the parallel importation of patented medicines. Following extensive public outcry and the disclosure that the most contentious section of the Medicines Act was based on a draft legal text produced by the World International Property Organization (WIPO) Committee of Experts, the companies withdrew from the case in April 2001' [51].