Pharma Summit: AIDS activists picket to demand South African reform

Delegates at The Economist’s Pharma Summit in London yesterday were greeted by AIDS activists picketing the entrance as they arrived.

The activists from STOPAIDS were protesting against what they called industry attacks on South Africa’s patent law reforms. South Africa does not currently review patent applications, leading to more patents being granted there than in either the USA or European Union. Many companies make small changes to their drugs and file new patents in order to maintain their monopoly in a practice known as ‘ever-greening’. By reforming the law, activists say that South Africa can increase access to affordable medicines for some of their poorest people.

Wrapped in South African flags the protesters lay on the ground as delegates entered the Dorchester hotel in front of a banner reading ‘Big Pharma – walking all over South Africans to turn a profit.’ The activists say they represented the millions of people living in South Africa who are prevented from accessing medicines because of high prices caused by the current patent laws. The demonstration was linked to a leaked strategy document which the activists say revealed pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) as “the ringleader of a secret big-money plot to derail a South African government plan to overhaul the nation’s patent laws.”