Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Tuesday November 6, 2001
Serra, who will attend the WTO meeting in Doha Nov. 9 to 13, said Brazil will ask for international backing to make WTO intellectual property laws, known as TRIPS, more flexible, allowing countries to produce AIDS drugs, even those protected by patents.
Brazil's fight for cheaper access to AIDS drugs, which led at least one manufacturer to discount drugs after Brazil threatened to break its patent, has gained fresh momentum since the United States recently pressed Bayer AG to sharply discount its anthrax drug Cipro.
"Brazil's stance, and that of other countries, is that nothing in TRIPS should prevent (WTO) member states from taking measures in defense of public health," Serra told reporters.
Serra said Brazil has the backing of some 50 countries on modifying TRIPS, or the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement, but the United States and Switzerland support maintaining patents.
Serra said the United States' threat to break Cipro's patent, which won it a significant discount, effectively backed Brazil's stance on TRIPS. "This is a typically Brazilian solution, we started this process," Serra said. Brazil's AIDS program has become a model for developing countries around the globe after it managed to hold HIV infection to less than 1 percent of the population with aggressive prevention education.
The success has won Brazil moral authority to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and produce eight out of 12 drugs used in the anti-AIDS cocktail to distribute free to patients.
Brazil will also push for different drugs prices for poor countries and for a fund for the purchase of anti-AIDS drugs in African countries, Serra said.
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