Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters newMedia - Tuesday November 18, 2003
Andrew Hay
Merck agreed to cut the cost of its Efavirenz treatment by 25 percent. Drug firms Roche Holding AG and Abbott Laboratories Inc. continued to hold out on such deep price cuts after months of talks with Brazil.
The head of the nation's acclaimed AIDS program appealed to the firms' "good sense" and said he was prepared to break patents if no accord was reached by mid-December.
"If there's no reduction in price it's an alternative that Brazil is going to have to analyze and use," Alexandre Grangeiro told Reuters in an interview. "You're dealing with a third world country with budget limitations."
Brazil's policy to break drug patents if manufacturers refuse to cut prices has outraged big pharmaceutical firms but slashed the cost of its AIDS program.
Brazil cuts cost by producing cheap, generic copies of patented drugs. So far it has never had to break a patent.
The nation's universal, free HIV and AIDS drug treatment program has halved the number of AIDS-related deaths since 1997, when free distribution began. It has been used by the World Health Organization as a model for the developing world.
Grangeiro said Brazil was looking for a discount of between 30 percent and 40 percent on the price of Roche's Nelfinavir treatment and Abbott's Lopinavir drug.
A Roche spokeswoman said the company continued talking with the government and believed negotiations would be "successful." She declined to comment on the terms or timing of a deal.
Abbott officials were not immediately available for comment.
Under Brazilian law, and based on World Trade Organization rules, the nation can break drug patents if it is a case of national emergency or interest.
Brazil's Merck accord marked its second such deal with a major pharmaceutical firm this month. Last week the nation announced a 76 percent price cut for an anti-AIDS drug made by Bristol-Myers Squibb .
Merck's Efavirenz will represent 18 percent of the ministry's costs on its cocktail of 15 anti-AIDS drugs given to patients. The cost reduction would represent a saving of 28.4 million reais ($9.6 million) next year, Brazil said. ($1 = 2.942 reais)
(Additional reporting by Axel Bugge)
((Editing by Eric Walsh; Reuters Messaging andrew.hay.reuters.com@reuters.net, Brasilia newsroom +55 61 426-7027)
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