BRAZIL COMPULSORY LICENSING DEADLINE EXPIRES TODAY

The deadline for the Brazilian government's threat to break patents on an HIV/AIDS drug used in the country's treatment programme is due to expire today. Local media sources suggest that although US drug firm Abbott Laboratories has offered concessions, any agreement with the government remains unlikely. Meanwhile, a leading global pharmaceutical association has denounced the official moves, stating the plan has only a "commercial logic."

According to official sources, the US firm has refused to lower the unit cost of its ARV Kaletra from US$1.17 to US$0.68 at the government's insistence. However, an offer to freeze the price of the drug for five years has been rejected, with health minister Humberto Costa now claiming the proposal does not match official projections for infection rates.

Brazil currently spends roughly US$250mn per year on the drug as part of its programme for 170,000 sufferers. However, the government estimates that the scheme will add a further 2,000 patients per year over the longer term. The country has pledged to compulsorily licence multinational sector ARVs since the mid-1990s, although this is the first known example of the threat being carried out. Meanwhile, there will be suspicions that the government's actions are for the benefit of the local manufacturing industry, with the country's leading ARV manufacturer under state control.