26 Jan, 2014
South African PR leak exposes how big pharma subverts govt policy – Times of India
NEW DELHI: Pharmaceutical industry’s machinations to interfere in a country’s policymaking to protect their interests have been exposed yet again, this time in South Africa.
The leaked plans of a public relations firm hired by the American and South African pharmaceutical multinational companies revealed how pharma planned to launch a campaign to discredit and subvert the proposed reform of South Africa’s patent laws.
The leaked nine-page document of the PR firm, Public Affairs Engagement, titled, Campaign to Prevent Damage to Innovation from the Proposed Draft National IP Policy in South Africa, was prepared for Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America PhRMA and the Innovative Pharmaceuticals Association of South Africa IPASA. It expressed the fear that if the reforms were adopted, South Africa would become less friendly to so-called “innovator companies” and that this “may also provide the model for other developing nations, inside and outside Africa, including such important aspiring economies such as India and Brazil.”
Read the rest: South African PR leak exposes how big pharma subverts govt policy – The Times of India.
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