Nigeria Signs ARVs Technology Deal With Brazil

Amid an official tour of Africa, Nigeria's leaders have signed a new agreement on the transfer of production technology for antiretroviral (ARV) drugs with president da Silva of Brazil. The deal, which is described as "confidential," comes after reports of similar initiatives in Mozambique and a series of threats by Brazil's government to break local patents on multinational HIV/AIDS therapies.

The accord is likely to alarm the research-based sector, assuming it yields a significant transfer of technology to Nigerian drug producers. Although a number of ARVs are scheduled to lose international patent protection in the short term, the deal comes at a time when Brazilian officials are claiming that the country already possesses sufficient manufacturing technology for off-patent ARV raw materials, and officials have further pledged to acquire capacity for patented drugs.

Further, Nigeria is also moving to boost its own local drug manufacturing capacity, launching new curbs on drug importers active in the country's flourishing copy drug trade. Nigerian regulator NAFDAC recently banned some 50 companies allegedly involved in copying and counterfeiting, including 14 Indian exporters and five Chinese drug firms. Meanwhile, the Brazilian deal now appears to indicate that Nigeria's government has acquired a promising new partner for technical co-operation on ARVs production.