Reuters: Brazil has won a concession from Abbott Laboratories Inc over the AIDS drug Kaletra after threatening to break the patent and produce the drug locally.
"Essentially, they are getting volume discounts," said Abbott spokeswoman Melissa Brotz, explaining the agreement allowed the government to increase significantly the number of patients treated while holding spending at current levels over the next few years."
Brazil, which had set a deadline at midnight last night to get a discount or it would break the patent, said it expected the number of Kaletra users to nearly triple to about 60,000 people six years from now from about 23,400 current patients. The agreed price reduction meant that $18 million less would be spent on the drug next year, while up to $259 million would be saved in the next six years. Abbot didn't confirm these figures.
Brazil has apparently secured these sort of deals by threatening to break patents before, but hasn't broken any -- probably because all the companies capitulated. I think this is a good outcome, and will support Brazils fight against AIDS -- lauded by the United Nations as one of the best in the world. And FYI, "Canada and the United States considered breaking patents on some antibiotics during the anthrax scare in 2001."
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