PHARMACEUTICALS: UNEASY TRUCE ON AIDS DRUGS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Patricia Lambert, the legal adviser to South Africa's Minister of Health, and one of the key figures in the negotiation of the deal, spoke of reports of the agreement as "alarmingly inaccurate". She told European Report she was concerned about the European pharmaceutical industry's portrayal of the agreement, and insisted that the South African government made no concessions. "The pharma companies withdrew from the court case unconditionally, in the court room before the judge and agreed to pay all the state's costs since the inception of the case", she said. Any suggestion that South Africa had made any new commitments to the TRIPS agreement on intellectual property rights was misleading, she said: "South Africa has always maintained that it would keep to the TRIPS Agreement. There is nothing new there", she insisted.The Government lawyer also rejected any implication that South Africa had given public backing to the link between patents and innovation. "We made no public statement whatsoever about intellectual property protection as an incentive for innovation", she said, taking issue with the claim by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations that the South African government and the industry agreed on "the underlying importance of intellectual property protection as an incentive for innovation".When is a settlement not a settlement?"The Parties have reached an amicable settlement of the referenced litigation currently pending before the High Court of South Africa and in consequence, the referenced applicants agreed to withdraw from the present legal action", according to a document headed 'In the matter between: The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association of South Africa, et. al, And The President of the Republic of South Africa, et. al. - Joint Statement Of Understanding Between The Republic Of South Africa And The Applicants'. The existence of this document - undated and unsigned - is acknowledged by both the industry and the South African government, although it has gone through several amendments, both sides admitted to European Report, and its status is far from clear.The carefully-worded document says the parties agree on "co-operation and partnership" in accelerating access to health care. It says the pharmaceutical industry "whose primary role in addressing these health challenges is to continue its investment in the search for new medicines and vaccines" wishes to work with South Africa. It sets...