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Medicines for those who need them most

In 2008, legal action by pharmaceutical giant Novartis put the health of millions at risk. So 80,000 Oxfam campaigners stepped in to help put a stop to it - and got the result the world's poorest people needed!


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Poor people worldwide depend on affordable drugs from India. In fact, the majority of generic medicines exported from India are sold in developing countries, at a fraction of the cost of patented brand medicines.

So when Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis launched a legal battle to challenge India's right to produce cheap, generic versions of medicines, it put poor people's lives in danger. People suffering from cancer, HIV and AIDS, diabetes and other diseases had had their biggest provider of affordable medicines threatened.

But you stepped in. Half a million people around the world, including more than 80,000 Oxfam supporters, campaigned for India's right to produce affordable medicines, emailing the CEO of Novartis to voice their opposition.

Your campaigning helped India win their battle - and change thousands of lives. And the decision to put patients' rights first in India has set the course for other poor countries to stand firm under pressure from multinational drugs companies - meaning more poor people can still afford the drugs they desperately need.

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