South Africa: historic "defiance campaign" imports generic fluconazole

South African treatment advocates have raised national and international issues by purchasing a generic version of fluconazole in Thailand, where it cost 50 50 times less than the South African retail price, and importing it into South Africa in defiance of patent laws. Many Africans die because they cannot afford the South African price of the patented drug. The South African government has been hostile, but the action has been supported by civil society throughout the country and abroad.