On March 5, more than 40 of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, including Boehringer-Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Roche - took the South African government to court. They are fighting a law, that was passed by the South African Parliament and approved by Nelson Mandela, which would allow life-saving medicines to be imported from countries where they are cheaper. They claim that the law infringes intellectual property rights.

Nearly five million South Africans are living with HIV. But few can afford the drugs which have enabled richer countries to transform the disease from a killer into a manageable illness.

These companies, with the support of some Western governments, are protecting their monopolies at the expense of millions of lives. This legal action shows that the pharmaceutical industry is more concerned with staving off competition and protecting its high profit margins than with genuinely increasing access to medicines.

We believe that this lawsuit is legally flawed and morally reprehensible. We call on the companies involved to drop the case and on Western governments to provide clear support to the South African government as it strives to tackle the urgent HIV/AIDS epidemic.