Brazil Congress Vote on Compulsory Licensing Expected

After months of government threats to break patents on HIV/AIDS drugs manufactured by three leading US-based firms, the lower house of Brazil's Congress is to vote on the issue shortly. The decision, which is expected as early as Tuesday, could approve a government-supported draft law "clarifying" compulsory licensing in Brazil.

Brazil is a signatory to TRIPS, but despite multinational sector protests, the country's government has recently threatened to compulsorily license three key antiretrovirals (ARVs) if ongoing negotiations with manufacturers fail. Government programmes produce almost all the country's free-of-charge ARVs, and officials have repeatedly pledged to use the "flexibilities" in TRIPS and Brazil's own 1997 Patent Law for the remaining three key patented drugs.