South African Row Over Sweeping Powers For Zuma

New drug legislation sent to Parliament by South African HealthMinister Nkosazana Zuma has created another furious row between the drug industry and the Health Department.

The legislation proposes, inter alia, an elimination of all patent rights for pharmaceuticals at the Minister's discretion, and the specific use of parallel imports, which is a further violation of the World Trade Agreement on intellectual property.

Dissatisfaction was also expressed against "onerous terms" of generic substitution, making the substitution of generic versions of innovative drugs mandatory rather than allowable.