Remarks
There’s a Precedent for Overriding Patents on Vital Medications
More than 20 years ago, South Africa, frustrated with the high cost of AIDS drugs, passed a law giving the state the right to import cheap generic versions without permission from patent holders.
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Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of South Africa v. South Africa
Case #4138/98 High Court of South Africa
The idea of voiding patents on Covid-19 vaccines so poorer countries can have access to them—which President Joe Biden has proposed—sounds radical, but it’s been done before. In the 1990s, during the height of the AIDS crisis, one of the hardest-hit countries was South Africa. The government, frustrated that HIV/AIDS drugs were too costly for its citizens, passed a law in 1997 giving the state the right to import cheap generic versions without getting permission from the pharmaceutical companies that held the patents.