International agreement brings to light deficiencies of contract established in Brazil
[Associação Brasileira Interdisciplinar de AIDS, Link] The recently announced license agreement for the patent of the anti-aids drug atazanavir, signed between the U.S. company Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), is a warning for Brazil. In November 2011, an agreement for the same purpose (patent license) was signed between BMS and the Brazilian public laboratory Farmanguinhos, but with very different terms. Besides being marked by unfavorable access to medicine clauses, the agreement signed in Brazil is severely delayed. The signing of the international agreement between BMS and MPP can serve as an opportunity to bring about a transparent discussion about the direction of the agreement signed in Brazil and its revision…
… Regarding the acquisition of the drug, prices are frozen at R$3.40 (about US$ 1.67) per unit (version of 200mg) since signing of the contract in 2011. That is to say, no price reduction has been observed yet as promised when the contract was announced. The cheaper generic version available in the international market costs US$0.48, a price that is about 4 times less than the price currently paid in Brazil.
