Wed, 01/16/2019 - 11:32 gkellett
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AIDS activists protest outside the U.S. consulate in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 24, 2004.
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Mike Hutchings/Reuters
2001

Meanwhile, in sub-Saharan Africa, antiretroviral drugs remained out of reach. Multinational pharmaceutical companies that held patents on the medicine refused to lower their prices in South Africa, so the South African government passed a law allowing for the importation of the same drugs from countries where the price was lower. The same pharmaceutical companies—backed by the U.S. government—challenged the law in South African courts, which further delayed the process of getting the drugs to patients. The Treatment Action Committee, a group of South African activists inspired in part by the U.S.-based AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), eventually succeeded in securing the availability of antiretroviral drugs in the public health-care system, which was used by most of the South African Black community at the time. The ferocious battle over these drug patents caused a media firestorm, finally catching the attention of the public, the World Trade Organization, and most important, major donors.

Timeline Entry Prefix
1997