BRAZIL TO INFRINGE DRUG PATENTS

According to the BBC, Brazil has announced that it is to infringe the patents of 5 AIDS drugs. The country currently offers an anti-AIDs “cocktail” of 15 drugs to sufferers, 8 of which are presently made in Brazil. It hopes that the total will go up to 12 or 13. Pedero Chequer, the head of the country’s anti-AIDS programme, has said that this step is the only way that Brazil can hope to keep up its treatment programme. Mr Chequer has accused drugs companies of collaborating to "keep developing nations hostage to the multinational industry".



The IPKat says that this is always a tricky issue. Certainly there’s merit in making medicine available to those that desperately need it, but if this action stops future medical innovations from finding their way to Brazil, this could be an own-goal.



Learn about the AIDS situation in Brazil here.

Information on AIDS drugs here.

Brazilian patent law here.