These statistics, coupled with a perception that some drug companies care more about stopping the spread of generic drugs than the spread of HIV, have damaged the industry s standing. The presiding judge in South Africa s landmark trial to determine whether the government can override pharmaceutical patents, throws the process into confusion by saying that the case might be outside his jurisdiction. Separately, it has emerged that the Southern Africa Development Community will for the first time meet the five companies that last year offered to slash the price of HIV drugs. The meeting, scheduled to take place on 24 March, will discuss an offer to cut the price of the life-saving drugs at the centre of the South African controversy by as much as 90 per cent. Thousands of protesters, who say the companies are putting patents before lives, march through the streets of Pretoria today.
Demonstrations also take place in Cape Town and Durban.
The court case that saw the South African government in the dock, accused by the world s leading pharmaceutical companies of violating their patent rights, has been adjourned to April 18. All around the world, young people are choosing to drink more, more often and at a younger age. Clearly, drinking is becoming part of a global youth culture. But this is also creating social problems. Teenagers from Zimbabwe talk to Nomsa Mwamuka.