US Ambassador Appeals On Sth African Drug Law

US Ambassador to South Africa James Joseph has sent a letter to aparliamentary health portfolio committee, asking that the proposed legislation allowing the Minister of Health to override international patent law be rejected or changed (Marketletters September 1 and 29). In his appeal, Ambassador Joseph noted that Switzerland, France and the European Union have made similar requests to South Africa.

The letter said the US government fully supports South African Minister Nkosazana Zuma's aim of making medicine available more cheaply, but noted that the Administration has a problem with Section 15C(a), which seems to give the Minister legal authority to deny patent rights to owners of medicine patents.

The USA is gravely concerned over the public policy implications of such a law, especially if the power is vested in a single individual, he added. The US government strongly urges the committee to remove or alter the section which seems to pose a great risk to universally-accepted principles of patent protection, he said.