US Health Journal Praises Brazil for Playing Hard Against AIDS Drugs Makers

Efavirenz
Brazil has set an example to other developing countries by employing "creative measures" to successfully tackle its HIV/AIDS epidemic, says a new study published by Health Affairs.

The study commends the country's methods employed in significantly lowering AIDS-related death and illness, such as developing generic AIDS drugs in public factories and threatening to produce generic versions of patented medicines.

In 2000, to combat rising treatment costs, Brazil's health minister José Serra pressured pharmaceutical companies to reduce their prices by threatening to issue a compulsory license that would enable local production of generic versions of patented antiretrovirals.

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement allows a developing country to invoke a compulsory license if the nation's health is at risk, thus allowing the production of patented drugs without payment to the patent holder.

Despite initial protests from the United States, the move proved successful and several companies slashed their prices. Brazil also started producing generic copies of non-patented medicines in 2001.

Brazil issued its first compulsory license to import Efavirenz – the most commonly used HIV/AIDS drug in the country, made by Merck & Co – from India in 2007 and began producing the drug locally this year.

"Brazil's challenges to multinational pharmaceutical companies promoted transparency about the high cost of patented medicines in an era when companies did not publicly share their drug prices," aid Amy Nunn, co-author of the study and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University in the United States.

She said in a press release: "Before Brazil's efforts, as recently as the year 2000, most people living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries died without receiving treatment."

Brazil's experience is valuable for middle-income countries, who are increasingly relying on generic medicines, say the authors.

Graham Dutfield, professor of international governance at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, says Brazil has set an excellent example for other countries.

"Brazil's drug policy has been absolutely correct, giving priority to the human right to health over private commercial interests, something all countries are required to do under international human rights law," he affirmed.

The authors' findings – based on interviews and analysis of Brazilian media – are published in the July/August edition of Health Affairs.

This article appeared originally in Science and Development Network – www.scidev.net.

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil’s Lula to Sign Accord on Biofuel During Finland Trip

Next week, Brazil and Finland should sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the ...

Chinese Will Help Brazil Build Southeast-Northeast Gas Pipeline

Petrobras and the Chinese State petroleum company, SINOPEC, signed a contract Monday, April 17, ...

Case of American Pilots Involved in 154 Deaths in Brazil Back in Court

The Brazilian court is once again dealing with the freak 2006 aviation accident that ...

Brazil’s Lula Admits His Party Did Wrong But Does Not Accept Blame

Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ratified that if the Workers Party, – ...

Obama: The Same Who Want US Out of LatAm Now Say We Don’t Interfere Enough

American President Barack Obama joined Friday a controversy boiling in South America by denying ...

26,000 Private College Openings in Brazil Reserved to Blacks

Brazilian students eligible under quotas favoring the handicapped, blacks, mulattoes, and Indians should be ...

Beyond Ouro Preto

Thanks to the wonderful potions prepared by Loira, Loira and Roque postponed old age ...

Those Words Those Eyes

Capitu has been portrayed as a woman with “a gypsy’s eyes, oblique and sly.” ...

Brazil’s Reserves Fall Close to US$ 1 Billion

Brazil’s total current accounts (covering all international financial transactions) had a surplus of US$ ...

Lula Can’t Start Brazil’s Economy

2003 was a lost year in Brazil as the country’s Finance Minister and Central ...