At stake in the case is the extent to which governments in the developing world will be able to secure affordable supplies of medicine, especially AIDS drugs. South Africa argues that the pharmaceutical industry has failed to deliver on promises of cut-price drugs, that buying the drugs would bankrupt the state health budget and that there is insufficient infrastructure to monitor use of the drugs. AIDS activists and aid organisations have denounced the drug firms for putting profits ahead of lives and for abusing their patents rights by demanding prices that are out of reach of ordinary people in the world's poorest continent. South Africa has more people living with HIV-AIDS than any other country in the world with 4.7 million people estimated to have the disease. The vast majority cannot afford drugs that could prolong their lives.
Drug companies say they are prepared to sell drugs to South Africa at no profit.
Letters between the parties also reflect growing frustration by leading firms such as GSK with Pretoria's reluctance to accept offers of cheaper drugs at a time when firms were being made uncomfortable by an increasingly vocal public campaign against the firms by AIDS activists. Drug firms are also seen trying to reassure South African ministers that details of their negotiations will not be released to the media. In sworn testimony, senior managers at GSK and Germany's Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals detail their dealings with the health minister, which failed to result in supply deals being reached despite a series of price discounts offered by the firms on their antiretroviral treatments. The letters build on earlier arguments from the drug industry that Pretoria failed to take up offers through the United Nations or used the state tendering system to buy bulk volumes of AIDS medicines at competitive prices. 2001 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.