![]() For instance, in Argentina, companies applying for a patent need to prove to a government-appointed examiner that they've developed something new and useful (along with ticking a host of other boxes). Getting a patent awarded can be a complicated process. If generic manufacturers can apply to copy a drug's recipe (and make cheaper versions of it) as soon as it hits the market, then it won't be profitable for the original developers to invest in pharmaceutical research in the first place.īut, according to Baone Twala, a legal researcher at public interest law centre, Section 27, drug companies are able to get patents in South Africa without anyone actually evaluating how much money or time went into research. The prospect of a legally protected monopoly gives companies more of an incentive to invest in making new medicines.ĭrug companies justify their right to patents on medicines by saying that they spend millions researching and developing medicines. The principle of a patent is that companies that develop a new invention (for instance, a medicine or simply a novel technique for producing drugs) can get an exclusive right to market it without competition. In South Africa, most medicines are protected by patents. ![]() What's causing medicine access to be stuck in Groundhog Day? The unavailable cancer drugs include treatments for breast, prostate, lung and some blood cancers. Now, Salomé Meyer, of the advocacy organisation, Cancer Alliance, says, government patients who need several other unaffordable cancer drugs are also doomed to years of waiting, because South Africa's laws make it easy for pharmaceutical companies to retain the sole right to sell their branded drugs for years.
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