Brazil U.N. Report Calls to Cut Price of AIDS Drugs

On May 26, a UN report on Brazil's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic said high drug prices may make the country's acclaimed treatment program unsustainable. Researchers reported that spending on antiretroviral drugs doubled to nearly 1 billion reais ($435 million US) from 2001 to 2005.

"Our proposal is to invest in local medicines productions, for which we already have the capacity, always having a compulsory license, or the breaking of patents, at hand as an instrument in negotiations, said Paulo Teixeira, former head of and now consultant to Brazil's HIV/AIDS program.

Teixeira said he believes Brazil would not interrupt its free treatment program, which serves more than 160,000 patients, but would have to sacrifice other social and medical spending to keep it in place. Characterizing drug prices as "unfair, abusive, and excessive," he said, "the whole paradigm of the pharmaceutical industry, which is among the world's three most profitable, has to change."

Brazil's treatment program, started in 1997, gives free universal access to HIV/AIDS drugs and is a UN-recommended model for the developing world. The program distributes condoms and syringes and conducts publicity campaigns aimed at prevention.

The report, which is being presented at the UN's 2006 High Level Meeting on AIDS, criticizes an agreement between Brazil and Abbott Laboratories as "harmful for the country." The deal halved the price of a key AIDS drug, but fixed the price for six years and prohibited Brazil from breaking patents for any of its components.

Brazil has a 0.6 percent HIV/AIDS infection rate in the adult population, similar to that of United States and well below the rate of 30 percent in some African countries. Mortality rates have also decreased sharply.

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