BRASILIA, July 9 (AFP) - The Brazilian Ministry of Health on Monday registered the first domestically produced generic anti-AIDS drug, which will cost about half as much as the imported brand-name medications.
The drug, known as Lamivudina, will form part of the cocktail of medications the government gives away free to 95,000 of the 580,000 Brazilians infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Brazil currently produces seven of the 12 anti-AIDS drugs and provides them to 95,000 Brazilians for free, a strategy which has cut the AIDS-related mortality rate in the giant South American nation by 40 percent since 1997, when the program was implemented.
Brasilia spends some 300 million dollars on the program annually.
Lamivudina is a generic form of Epivir, produced by Glaxo Wellcome. A package of 60 pills costs 126.33 reals (52 dollars), about half of the brand-name equivalent's cost.
Brazilian patent law allows authorities to license a local company to manufacture a product, patented by a foreign company, if the foreign firm does not produce it in the country within three years of getting the patent.
The United States last month withdrew its World Trade Organization complaint against the law, and instead agreed to settle the matter through negotiation.
010709
AF010727
Copyright © AFP or Agence France-Presse, 2001 - All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission.. http://www.afp.com/
ÆGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2001. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2001 - ÆGiS. ÆGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on ÆGIS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of ÆGIS and the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
