Brazil Renews Patent Violation Threat Amid Higher Drug Spending

Speaking at an international conference on pharmaceutical technical cooperation, a senior Brazilian health official has renewed claims that the government will foment local generic production of latest-generation patented HIV/AIDS treatments. Authorities first pledged to break patents on such drugs late last year, in an effort to ensure the survival of the country's free antiretroviral treatment programme. At the time, the announcement envisaged generic production of five drugs currently manufactured by the multinational sector.

Key to the issue is the nature of Brazil's obligations under the TRIPS international intellectual property framework, of which the country is a signatory. Despite this apparent obstacle, officials claim the treaty permits some adherents to break patents in the case of a "national emergency." Further, attendees at this week's cooperation conference notably included representatives of developing countries that did not originally sign up to the full terms of the treaty, including leading generics producers India and China.

The threats have come as a surprise to some observers, given that early last year a number of multinationals, including Roche, Abbott and Gilead Sciences, agreed to the largest price cuts in five years for antiretroviral drugs. Moreover, Brazil already manufactures eight of the 15 drugs produced under its HIV/AIDS programme, which has been hailed as something of a success. Meanwhile, as the government currently accounts for a third of the country's drug sales and spending is set to rise further, there remain suspicions that authorities are seeking to favour the already substantial local manufacturing sector.