How patent law reform can improve affordability and accessibility of medicines in South Africa: Four medicine case studies.

South Africa (SA) is in the process of amending its patent laws. Since its 2011 inception, Fix the Patent Laws, a coalition of 40 patient groups, has advocated for reform of SA's patent laws to improve affordability of medicines in the country. Building on two draft policies (2013, 2017) and a consultative framework (2016) for reform of SA's patent laws, Cabinet approved phase 1 of the Intellectual Property Policy of the Republic of South Africa on 23 May 2018. Fix the Patent Laws welcomed the policy, but highlighted concerns regarding the absence of important technical details, as well as the urgent need for government to develop bills, regulations and guidelines to provide technical detail and to codify and implement patent law reform in the country. In this article, we explore how reforms proposed in SA's new intellectual property policy could improve access to medicine through four medicine case studies.

The molluscicidal activity of seed pods of Swartzia madagascariensis on Marisa cornuarietis.

The molluscicidal potency of ground seed pods of Swartzia madagascariensis was tested in the laboratory against Marisa cornuarietis, a well known competitor and/or predator of pulmonate intermediate hosts of schistosomiasis. Results showed that a minimum concentration of 1.6g ground pods/1 was required to cause 100% mortality in M. cornuarietis. This concentration was by far over and above what is required (ie, 100 mg ground pods/1) to kill 10% of the pulmonate hosts of schistosomiasis. It seems that the application of S. madagascariensis at a concentration inimical to pulmonates (ie, 100 mg ground ponds/1 or slightly higher) in habitats where M. cornuarietis is introduced may not adversely affected to competitor snail population. Hence, the prospect of using S. madagascariensis in conjunction with M. cornuarietis against pulmonate snail hosts is conceived and tentatively recommended.