BRAZILIA, July 8 (AFP) - Brazil's Ministry of Health announced Friday that Abbott Laboratories has agreed to lower the price of its HIV/AIDS drug Kaletra to prevent Brazil from breaking the company's patent, as it had threatened.
"The results guarantee the ministry's proposed objectives, ensuring a significant price cut for the drug over the next six years," the ministry said in a statement.
Abbott "also agreed to a technology transfer procedure so that (Brazil's state-run) FarManguinhos Laboratories can begin producing the drug (Kaletra) in 2009," the ministry added.
The agreement also guarantees access by Brazilian patients to Meltrex, an updated version of Kaletra that is pending approval by US health authorities, the statement said.
The ministry recently said an agreement with Abbott would spare Brazil 18 million dollars in its 2006 budget to provide AIDS patients free anti-AIDS treatment consisting of a cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs, including Kaletra.
Currently 24,000 patients in Brazil receive Kaletra. The number is expected to increase to 60,000 by 2011.
Over the six years which the agreement covers, Brazil expects to save up to 259 million dollars in drug purchases, the statement said.
Brazil on June 24 declared Kaletra a drug "of national interest," and gave Abbott a 10-day ultimatum to either agree to lower its price for the drug or face a violation of its patent.
"The price paid by the Brazilian government to purchase 'Kaletra' represents a yearly cost of 2,630 dollars per patient," Brazilian Health Minister Humberto Costa said at the time.
"This price is considered exorbitant, because studies of the World Health Organisation (WTO) showed that the fair price, including already a considerable margin of profit, should range from 480 to 540 dollars per patient per year, considering large-scale production," Costa added.
Costa said Brazil intended to have a cheaper generic copy of the patented drug produced locally by a state-owned company.
Illinois-based Abbott had branded the ultimatum as illegal, and warned that developing unproven, alternative HIV medication posed "significant consequences for patients."
However, Abbott also said then that it remained open to an "agreeable solution."
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