The United States is keenly following Brazil's plan to break a patent held by a U.S. drug company to cut treatment costs for the country's tens of thousands of AIDS sufferers, a U.S. official said on Tuesday."We are monitoring this latest development closely through our embassy in Brasilia and here in Washington," a U.S. trade official said, without commenting on whether the United States would challenge Brazil on the issue.
Brazil has announced it will break a patent on Abbott Laboratories Inc.'s anti-retroviral drug Kaletra to provide a cheaper generic version for its treatment program.
It would be the first time any country has broken a patent in order to produce an anti-AIDS drugs. Brazil says its state-owned lab could make the drug for 68 cents a pill, less than the $1.17 each the government pays Abbott.
Brazil was taking the step after Abbott had refused to grant a voluntary license to manufacture Kaletra, Costa said.
The order, the first issued by Brazil in a long-running tussle over pricing between developing countries and multinational companies producing drugs used in AIDS treatment, will go into effect within 10 days, Costa said.
This will be interesting ten days in this situation. Will Abbott grant the license after all?
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