Brazil, renowned for its free care program towards AIDS and HIV, has decided to take drastic action after the World Trade Organisation didn't come through in forcing drug company Abbott Laboratories to steeply reduce its price for the anti-retroviral drug Kaletra pill.
Not long ago India stopped making generic drugs, a process where a similar version of a pill is made but at a much cheaper price. Obviously generic drugs hold a lot of benefits for poor countries with serious AIDS epidemics (like South Africa). It has been argued that the generic pills are of inferior quality, but in reality a lot of generics are just as effective and safe as their patented counterparts.
Anyway, now Brazil has decided, which intellectual property lawyers and that ilk have branded as government sanctioned piracy or just plain greed, that it might start producing generic versions of the drug. This is after not only going to the WTO but also requesting a steep price cut from Abbott for the drug.
Of course, Abbott and co aren't happy about it. This quote is a particluar gem: "This is about stealing our intellectual property right and left, and we're going to have to do something about it," said Robert Goldberg, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a New York-based conservative think tank. "If this was Microsoft's patents, there would be a firestorm."
True, but when is the last time you recall that someone might die if they don't have Microsoft software? People are dying in a massive epidemic and these guys want to argue 'their rights'.
