Oxfam's Cut the Cost campaign was launched in February 2001, to draw attention to a worldwide crisis in the making. Much premature death and disability associated with infectious diseases could be avoided if poor people had affordable medicines.

Global patent rules put the price of new, more effective medicines beyond the reach of poor people. Patents allow wealthy drug companies to charge high prices, and prevent the sale of cheaper generic medicines.

Oxfam joined with Médecins sans Frontières, VSO, Treatment Action Campaign, and other partners to cut the cost of vital medicines. Oxfam's campaign called for reform of global patent rules, and challenged drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to take the lead within the pharmaceutical industry to promote poor people's access to medicines.

Together with 38 other multinational companies, GSK had brought legal action against the South African government, which was seeking the right to import cheaper medicines. Just two months after Oxfam launched its campaign, and following an international outcry, the South African court case was dropped - a victory for a global campaigning coalition.

Later in 2001, 32,000 people in 163 countries signed a petition calling on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to change its patent rules. The final deal reaffirmed that public health is more important than patents. This was an important step forward in making medicines affordable for developing countries. 

Oxfam's Cut the Cost campaign has helped prove that companies, politicians, and officials do listen when enough people express their concern. Those people who took time to sign the petition, or to write to GSK, made a difference. Without their help, the deal on affordable medicines would have been harder to win.

Campaigning works. If the rules changed so that world trade worked for poor people, millions of people could see the end of poverty. 

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