1000 activists march to demand urgent reform of outdated patent laws in South Africa; The Fix the Patent Laws launches a new medicines report showing how patents stop people from accessing nine important medicines in the country.

Yesterday the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) released a statement by Minister Rob Davies announcing an upcoming conference to discuss issues that emerged in response to the DTI’s call for submission’s on the Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (IP).

Health activists hand-over comments on Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property to Department of Trade and Industry, supporting patent law reform.

An open letter from civil society, academics and experts supports a number of proposed reforms in the Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property, and offers specific recommendations for further improvements.

As the Fix the Patent Laws campaign gains traction and South Africa moves closer towards the kind of intellectual property reform that will vastly improve access to affordable medicines, a number of claims are being publicised by the pharmaceutical industry and their allies seeking to protect their business interests. The purpose of this myth-buster is to clarify that adopting legal TRIPS safeguards will not only support public health efforts but also benefit local industry and economic development.

This is a memorandum dated 7th August delivered to representatives from the Department for Trade and Industry, including Minister Rob Davies, ahead of a workshop in coordination with the WTO, WHO, WIPO calling on the DTI to urgently “Fix the Patent Laws” to improve South Africans’ access to medicines. You can access the original memorandum here.