US Pharma Firms Threaten South African Withdrawal

US pharmaceutical companies doing business in South Africa have frozennew investment and threatened to withdraw from that country, pending the outcome of Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma's envisaged legislation on generic medicines.

Various US drugmakers, with total investment of approximately 7 billion rand ($11.57 billion), have indicated to US Congressman Robert Menandez that they will reconsider their continued presence in South Africa should the legislation proceed, Mr Menandez told a joint meeting of SA's parliamentary finance and trade and industry committee meeting recently.

These companies have spent "billions of rands" on research and the establishment of international trade names. If doctors are forced to prescribe the much cheaper generic products, it will be at the cost of trade name products, and companies will suffer severe losses.