PRESS STATEMENT

TACS BIOZOLE EQUIVALENT TO PFIZERS DIFLUCAN

SAVE LIVES PRODUCE, IMPORT AND DISTRIBUTE GENERICS 

18 December 2000
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Generic fluconazole  Biozole is as good as Pfizers Diflucan. This is the
result of an independent test conducted by a laboratory regularly used by
by the Medicines Control Council.

The test confirms other independent international laboratory studies that
TAC relied on to import the medication in defiance of patent laws. 

The Brooklyn Medical Centre (BMC) has met all the Medicines Control
Councils (MCC) conditions for it to receive a section 21 exemption on
Biozole, the generic fluconazole imported by TAC. The exemption means that
the BMC will be able to distribute this essential life-saving drug at no
charge on a limited, patient-name basis to people who need it. The
availability of this medicine is limited by the funds TAC can raise for
the Christopher Moraka Defiance Campaign.

Biozole has been successfully quality tested in an approved South African
laboratory, as requested by the MCC. The quality test ensured that Biozole
capsules contain the correct amount of fluconazole (101.1%). It
further confirms that Biozole is a safe, generic equivalent of
Pfizer's fluconazole, as has already been shown in laboratories in
Switzerland, France and Thailand. 

In August 2000, the Nobel Prize winning humanitarian organisation, Mdecins
Sans Frontires (MSF) requested that Biozole be tested by an independent
laboratory in France.  Their result showed that Biozole was 104%
equivalent to fluconazole. A test is considered satisfactory if the
generic medicine has between 90% and 110% of the active ingredient
of the brand-name drug. This additional evidence has also been submitted
to the MCC.

Anita Kleinschmidt, attorney at the AIDS Law Project said that BMC has
provided the Medicines Control Council with details of the test, a list of
doctors who will be acting on behalf of the BMC, and it will provide the
patient names as soon as the Biozole is prescribed. BMC requested an
initial amount of 5000 X 200mg - Biozole capsules per month. "This
completes the conditions stipulated by the MCC, which is now obliged to
grant the Section 21 exemption