Brazil Tackles HIV Head-On by Providing Free Medicine

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Brazil Tackles HIV Head-On by Providing Free Medicine

Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com) (12/17/00) P. A28
Downie, Andrew

The best way to delay the onset of AIDS in HIV-positive people is to use a mix of antiretroviral drugs, but the cocktail required can be impossibly expensive, particularly for those who live in developing nations. The Brazilian government, however, authorized state laboratories to make generic copies of seven of the 12 cocktail drugs, which cut the cost of annual production by almost two-thirds. In addition, the government distributes the drugs for free to 90,000 people. The program shows that Third-World governments can have a deep impact on fighting AIDS, and that the high cost of the drugs does not make an impassable barrier. Brazil passed a patent law in 1997 that made those seven drugs' patents public property, among other patents, and then decided that it would be less expensive to make the drugs itself. It will begin making the eighth such medicine early next year and is in negotiations with private companies for another four, but Brazilian authorities have told the companies that if they do not lower the cost of those four drugs, the government will invoke a constitutional provision and break the patent licenses. Abbott Labs head of institutional relations Irapuan Oliveira expresses concern about loss of market share and possible quality problems in the substitution of government- made drugs for the company's. Brazil officials say, however, that the first two years of the program have kept 146,000 people out of the hospital and saved Brazil $472 million. It has also helped slow the spread of AIDS. Brazil has tried to enlist the aid of international agencies to share its program, but they have refused. So the nation says it will post the information on its Web site and give away the technology free of charge.
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