The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Doctors without Borders (MSF) are being admitted as amicus curiae (friends of the court) in a case against US pharmaceutical giant Vertex, aimed at bringing its life-saving cystic fibrosis (CF) treatment to patients in South Africa.
Vertex doesn’t sell the drugs in SA or in most of the developing world, with the massive price tag of around R5m a year making them unaffordable for these markets – yet has still patented them here.
This means no one else can sell them either, making the treatment unattainable for South African CF patients, reports EWN.
The case was initially bought by Cheri Nel, a cystic fibrosis sufferer, and the Cystic Fibrosis Association, who are challenging Vertex’s patents for Trikafta and Kalydeco in the Court of the Commissioner of Patents.
The TAC and the MSF, represented by SECTION27, have now also been admitted as friends of the court.
They said their submissions would include focus on why “the socio-economic landscape of South Africa [demanded] that medicines be made affordable”.
The case is yet to be set down for hearing.
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Court battle looms over lifesaving cystic fibrosis drug
Discovery battles for affordable cystic fibrosis drug
Emotive campaign over £105,000 per year cystic fibrosis drug