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TWN Info Service on Intellectual Property Issues (May07/01) 03 May 2007
Published in SUNS # 6242 dated 1 May 2007 Geneva, 30 Apr (Sangeeta Shashikant) -- The Brazilian government has declared its intention to issue a compulsory licence for the AIDS drug Efavirenz, if the patent holder, the drug multinational company Merck Sharpe and Dome (MSD), does not adequately reduce its price. The Ministry of Health revealed that its decision to issue a compulsory license ordinance came after talks with the company failed to lower prices of the AIDS drug. The Ministerial Ordinance No. 866 dated 24 April 2007 declared that "there exists the possibility of compulsory licensing of patents in the public interest", as provided for in national laws, and decides "to declare public interest in relation to Efavirenz for the purposes of the granting of compulsory licensing for public non-commercial use, in order to guarantee the practicability of the National STD and AIDS Programme, ensuring the continuity of universal and free access to all medicines necessary for the treatment of people living with HIV and AIDS." The Ministerial Ordinance shall come into force from the date of its publication. The government has also issued a detailed statement in the form of questions and answers, explaining its move. It has been conducting negotiations since 2006 with Merck over the price of the drug. Efavirenz
is an important drug as it is estimated that 75,000 or 38% of the 200,000
patients having antiretroviral treatment in According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), despite the increasing number of patients taking the drug, the prices for Efavirenz have not altered much since 2003. Efavirenz
(in tablets of 600 mg) is currently available in The
MOH says that it has received proposals for the supply of Efavirenz
(600mg) by generic drug companies at far cheaper prices than the price
that Merck has been charging in Generic
versions of the drug that have been pre-qualified by the World Health
Organisation have been offered to According to the MOH, buying the drug at these lower prices would reduce expenditure on Efavirenz by around $30 million per annum on the 2007 contract, with estimated savings by 2012 (when the patent expires), of $236.9 million. Issuing a compulsory license is a measure allowed by the WTO's TRIPS Agreement to overcome the patent barrier and enable the supply of cheaper generic medicines either through import or local manufacture. Where
a compulsory licence is issued for "public non-commercial use",
as appears to be the intention of However, the MOH has said that since 2006, it has been in constant negotiation with MSD to reduce its price, but with no success. The
Ordinance states that "the Ministry of Health undertook, without
success, all efforts to reach an agreement with the manufacturer of
Efavirenz regarding the prices charged in The MOH was offered a 2% reduction in price (for the 2007 supply contract) by MSD, which it considered insufficient. The
MOH said that it instead requested that MSD charge prices compatible
with the growing use of Efavirenz in With
regard to the oral solution version of the drug, the MOH said that it
would have accepted the prices charged in However, according to the MOH statement, "the company was relentless with regard to the price. Therefore, the discussion came to an end without a satisfactory agreement." The MOH also mentioned that MSD sets its differential pricing, i.e. between $277.40 and $697.00 per patient per year based on the countries' Human Development Index and/or HIV prevalence, but in calculating the price, other relevant aspects were totally disregarded, such as the extent of the population's access to treatment, the absolute number of patients who take the drug or even if it is used for initial treatment, as is the case in Brazil. The Brazilian move can be expected to spark a new round of negotiations with MSD. Pharmaceutical companies are known to be more responsive to a government request for significant reduction in drug prices where there is an imminent issuance of a compulsory licence, or following the issuance of a compulsory licence. MSD
offered to the Thai government Efavirenz at $0.72 per tablet of 600
mg (650 baht per bottle), however with several conditions, after The generic Efavirenz imported from the Indian company Ranbaxy at less than half the original price of the patented product meant that the Thai Ministry of Health will be able to provide Efavirenz to 20,000 additional AIDS patients. MSD also went on to publicly announce a reduction in the price of its HIV/AIDS medicine STOCRIN (efavirenz), to $237.25 per patient per year (from $0.76 to $0.65 per day) for purchasers in countries in the low category of the Human Development Index (HDI) and in medium HDI countries with an adult HIV prevalence of 1% or greater. In medium HDI countries with an adult HIV prevalence of less than 1%, it offered a price of $1.80 per day, or $657.00 per patient per year, reduced from $1.91 per day for the same formulation. The Brazilian government has also gone through a similar experience. In 2005, it made a declaration that the Lopinavir/Ritonavir combination (marketed by the brand name Kaletra) was of public interest and on numerous occasions indicated that it would issue a compulsory licence. This threat of a compulsory licence eventually led to an agreement with the patent holder Abbott for a reduction in the price. The government did not issue a compulsory license. Brazilian NGOs are strongly supporting the government move. The Working Group on Intellectual Property (GTPI) of the Brazilian Network for the Integration of Peoples (REBRIP) said that it believed that the government would not be once again a "Tiger without Teeth". Instead, it expects that the government will this time "follow through with its decision to guarantee access to an essential medicine by initially importing cheaper generic versions and later by producing the drugs locally." The
GTPI/REBRIP said that a technical study that it carried out in 2006,
as well as other studies by the UN Development Programme and the Clinton
Foundation, showed that It added that the issuance of a compulsory licence constitutes a historical decision and contributes to the sustainability of the State policy guaranteeing universal access to medicines, demonstrating also the maturity of Brazilian institutions that used to vacillate when facing international pressure. --------------------------------- Thiru
Balasubramaniam
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