Brazil has gone ahead and broken the patent on an AIDS drug made by Merck and Co., and will import a cheaper generic version of the drug from Thailand, Rueters reported on Friday.
Brazil followed the example of Canada, Italy, and Thailand to use a clause in World Trade Organization rules to flout drug patents in the name of public health, Reuters said. Apparently, 200,000 people with AIDS in Brazil receive drugs paid for by the government--anyone listening in Washington, D.C.?
Brazil is a relatively poor country, and it can afford to do this. Despite the war in Iraq, we are still the richest country in the world, and we let people with serious illnesses hang out to dry without health insurance, and without adequate disability and other government support.
As I've written before, as a cancer patient who is taking two very expensive drugs, Herceptin and Avastin, for which there are no generics, I'm all in favor of countries breaking drug patents and stopping the obscene profiteering on sick people's misery. Obviously, I'm not an unbiased observer.
Read the news report:
Brazil bypasses patent on Merck AIDS drug
@ Jeanne Sather 2007.
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