On Wednesday, Brazil's Health Ministry decreed Gilead Science's AIDS drug Viread (tenofovir) "in the public interest." The US pharmaceutical firm's patent filing is under review by the country's INPI patent agency, which will consider the ministry's objection in its deliberations.

The ministry said granting the tenofovir patent in Brazil would create "expectations of monopoly rights with an impact on the price of the product."

"If no patent is issued, Brazil will be free to negotiate prices of the drug, be it generic or brand name," a ministry source said Thursday, adding that the issue is "not about compulsory licensing" or patent-breaking.

In Brazil, a Gilead representative declined to comment on the case but said ministry and company officials are in contact about the issue.

The cost of tenofovir represents 10 percent of Brazil's budget for its national AIDS treatment program, which provides free antiretroviral drugs to patients. This year, 31,300 Brazilians will receive tenofovir at a per-patient cost of $1,387 annually, the ministry said. The average treatment cost for each of its 180,000 HIV/AIDS patients is about $2,500 annually.

If Brazil rejects Gilead's tenofovir patent, the country could opt to import a generic version under a World Trade Organization public health exemption.

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