[Ip-health] Jacob Golstein's Health Blog in the Wall Street Journal: Brazil Breaks Merck’s Patent on AID S Drug

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

May 4, 2007, 1:31 pm
Brazil Breaks Merck’s Patent on AIDS Drug
Posted by Jacob Goldstein


http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2007/05/04/brazil-breaks-mercks-patent-on-
aids-drug/

After months of negotiations, the government of Brazil said today it
will break the patent on Merck’s AIDS drug efavirenz and begin buying
cheap generic copies. Merck said that it was “profoundly disappointed”
and that its “fair offer” on price had been rejected.

The Brazilian government’s decision comes in the wake of a similar move
by Thailand, which recently said it would break the patents on
efavirenz and Abbott’s AIDS drug Kaletra. Both countries say they are
following World Trade Organization rules that allow countries to use
generic copies of patented, brand-name drugs during public health
emergencies. Merck said it offered its AIDS drugs to Brazil at the
“lowest price of any country with a comparable wealth and disease
burden.”

The price of AIDS drugs in the developing world came to the fore a few
years ago, as AIDS patients in wealthy countries were being saved by
cocktails of antiretroviral drugs, while patients in poorer countries
continued to die. Pharmaceutical companies negotiated lower prices with
many developing countries, including Brazil.

But the issue has been back in the headlines in recent months, at least
partly due to changes in drug regimens. The Associated Press reported
last month that Brazil supplied only 2,500 of its AIDS patients with
efavirenz in 1999. But now the drug is used by 75,000 Brazilians, who
receive AIDS drugs free from their government.

Efavirenz is sold in Brazil under the brand name Stocrin. Bristol-Myers
sells the drug in the U.S. as Sustiva.

---------------------------------
Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
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thiru@keionline.org