Brazil Can Save US$ 600 Million in 5 Years by Copycating Patented AIDS Drugs

Brazil has the developing world’s most successful AIDS/HIV treatment and prevention program. Its operation is very simple: any HIV-positive Brazilian who cannot afford treatment can obtain the so-called AIDS cocktail drugs from the government free of charge.

At the moment there are around 160,000 people enrolled in the program. Brazil uses a total of seventeen drugs; ten of them are no longer protected by patents and copycat versions are produced in Brazil at a low cost.


The other seven are patented and that’s the rub. They are so expensive that just paying for a few of them eats up most of the government’s AIDS/HIV budget.


Recently, following long, arduous and unfruitful negotiations with pharmaceutical companies for price reductions, Brazil announced it is considering breaking the patents of at least three AIDS drugs, known as Kaletra (Ritonavir/Lopinavir), Efavirenz and Tenofovir.


The head of the AIDS program, Pedro Chequer, explains that Brazil has the necessary manufacturing know-how and could economize as much as US$ 600 million in five years by producing its own generic versions of the three drugs. “That is money we could invest in our own AIDS research,” he reports.


Chequer points out that last year Brazil began sharing its AIDS treatment and prevention program, along with its cheap generic drugs, with other countries at no cost to those countries.


So far the Portuguese-speaking nations of East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Cabo Verde and São Tomé and Prí­ncipe, along with South American neighbors, Paraguay and Uruguay, are receiving assistance from Brazil which also includes healthcare personnel training programs.


“We are not doing this for profit. We see AIDS as a question of solidarity and human rights,” declared Chequer.


Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil Contributes US$ 33 Billion to World’s US$ 1,6 Trillion Entertainment Bill

Global investment in media should reach US$ 1.6 trillion in 2013, with a rhythm ...

Brazil’s Pelí© Pitching Artificial Soccer Fields

Artificial turf has  come of age, Brazilian soccer player Pelé told delegates at Stadia ...

Brazilian Court Allows Gay Couple to Adopt Child

In Brazil, a court from the southeastern state of São Paulo has ruled that ...

Liberation Theology Gets New Life in Brazil and Latin America

The recent election of former Bishop Fernando Lugo as President of Paraguay poses a ...

Body of Brazilian General Stays in Haiti Until Brazilian Team Investigates His Death

Approximately 300 people participated, today, in Port-au-Prince (Haiti), on a ceremony in the honor ...

Brazilian Optimism Is Driving Dollar Down

The Brazilian real, Brazil's currency, had its biggest weekly gain in almost two months ...

Simplifying Drawback Brazil Will Boost Competitiveness of Small Companies

Brazil’s government should issue an administrative rule, before the end of January, simplifying the ...

It’s Tough Being Brazilian in the UK

Nobody knows the precise number of Brazilians living in the UK. The Brazilian Embassy ...

For Second Year Brazil Tops List of Foreigners Barred in Europe

For two years in a row, now, 2009 and 2010, Brazilians have been at ...

Brazil Starts Flu Vaccination of Its 16 Million Elderly

Under the banner "Live better – Get Vaccinated Against Flu," Brazil’s Ministry of Health ...