Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - July 6, 2005
This is not a case of a country that can plead wretched poverty or a dire medical emergency. Brazil has one of the largest economies in the world and a relatively low incidence of AIDS. Brazil doesn't want to pay for a commodity that belongs to someone else. In this case it's Abbott's Kaletra, one of the most potent AIDS drugs.
If Brazil carries out its threat, the U.S. has a number of retaliatory options, including a complaint to the World Trade Organization or the imposition of its own economic sanctions. Washington should not hesitate to use them.
At stake is the integrity of patents and copyrights, the protection of intellectual property. Without those protections, poachers can appropriate the fruits of someone else's research at will. Pharmaceutical firms will be less likely to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on research on a cure or a vaccine for AIDS if they can be ripped off with impunity by foreign nations.
Kaletra is the most potent member of a family of drugs called protease inhibitors, which are used to treat people infected with HIV/AIDS. Abbott researchers spent more than five years developing Kaletra, which went on the market in 2000. The company holds the patent until 2015.
Kaletra is expensive. In the U.S. the annual, per-patient cost is $7,183, in addition to other treatments.
Abbott, though, has negotiated several price breaks with Brazil which have brought the price of Kaletra to $2,562 a year, or less than half the going rate in developed countries. In Africa, Abbott sells the drug for about $500 a year, which means the pharmaceutical firm takes a substantial loss. That's considered part of the company's $100 million, five-year commitment to fight the AIDS epidemic in the developing world.
International conventions allow poor countries to declare a national emergency and use something called compulsory licensing to clone cheaper versions of patented drugs. The Brazilian Congress has invoked the compulsory license protocol to try to force Abbott to lower the price of Kaletra in Brazil to about $1,400 a year.
. According to Flavio Marega, trade counselor with the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, $1,400 is what it would cost Brazil to treat patients with HIV/AIDS if it produced its own generic Kaletra. He says that Brazil's widely regarded program to provide full treatment for anyone with HIV/AIDS costs the nation about $260 million a year, a cost the nation will soon not be able to afford.
Brazil's claim for compulsory licensing, though, is bogus. The country is sufficiently developed and the incidence of AIDS there is relatively low--approximately .7 percent among adults, or only slightly higher than in the U.S.
Compare those numbers with sub-Saharan Africa: In Swaziland, AIDS incidence is nearly 40 percent among adults, in Lesotho 30 percent.
Brazil's endgame is unclear. Humberto Costa, the minister of health, has said the country's generic Kaletra will be for domestic use only. But in other forums he has cited the need "to develop our own manufacturing industry" and encouraged other developing countries to follow Brazil's patent-busting lead.
No matter how you package it, Brazil's campaign against patents held by U.S. pharmaceutical firms amounts to international thievery and extortion. It threatens to disrupt, not enhance, the worldwide treatment of AIDS. That doesn't bode well for international trade, scientific research or the prospect of breakthroughs in the treatment of AIDS.
050706
CT050701
Copyright © 2005 - Chicago Tribune. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Chicago Tribune, Permissions Desk, 435 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611 http://www.chicagotribune.com
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted funding from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, National Library of Medicine, Pacific Life Foundation, and donations from users like you.
Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2005. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 2005. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .