urgent e-action on access to medicines- Landmark Case to go to Court on Monday 29th Jan
January 4th, 2007This post was written by Diarmaid. You can read more posts by: Diarmaid or more posts in Events
Sign-on to help protect access to affordable medicines!!
Pharmaceutical company Novartis is taking the Indian government to court on Monday 29th January.
If the company wins, millions of people across the globe could have their sources of affordable medicines dry up.
Novartis was one of the 39 companies that took the South African government to court five years ago, in an effort to overturn the country’s medicines act that was designed to bring drug prices down. Now Novartis is up to it again and is targeting India.
India produces affordable medicines that are vital to many people living in developing countries. Over half the medicines currently used for AIDS treatment in developing countries come from India and such medicines are used to treat over 80% of the 80,000 AIDS patients in Médecins Sans Frontières projects.
If Novartis is successful in its challenge against the Indian government and its patent law, more medicines are likely to be patented in India, making it very difficult for generic producers to make affordable versions of them. This could affect millions of people around the world who depend on medicines produced in India.
Tell Novartis it has no business standing in the way of people’s right to access the medicines they need. Sign on and urge Novartis to DROP THE CASE against the Indian government.
This really will make a difference!
To sign the petition, click here: http://www.msf.org/petition_india/international.html
January 4th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
hey there… does anyone have any flyer/leaflet type things for this? Bizarrely I’ll be in India soon at a student camp garbling on about activism and HIV/AIDs. This is a great example to introduce people to. cheers
January 5th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
I don’t but you could make one using the info on MSF’s website? It would be great if you did want to promote this.