The South African government and the Treatment Action Campaign might have emerged victorious from the Pretoria High Court, but this does not mean that cheap anti-AIDS drugs will suddenly be available to all South Africans who need them. As Kerry Cullinan reports, the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act does not challenge patent rights and the pharmaceutical giants retain a 20-year hold on the production and pricing of anti-retroviral drugs.

The withdrawal of the pharmaceutical industry from litigation against the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act opens the way for the South African government to offer consumers access to cheaper medicines. But the public should be under no illusions that it immediately creates the conditions for affordable medicines and cheap anti AIDS drugs.