Brazil has gone ahead and broken the patent on an AIDS drug made by Merck and Co., and will import a cheaper generic version of the drug from Thailand, Rueters reported on Friday.
Brazil
followed
the
example
of
Canada,
Italy,
and
Thailand
to
use
a
clause
in
the
World
Trade
Organization
rules
to
flout
drug
patents
in
the
name
of
public
health,
Reuters
said.
Apparently,
200,000
people
with
AIDS
in
Brazil
receive
drugs
paid
for
by
the
government--anyone
listening
in
Washington,
D.C.?
Brazil
is a
relatively
poor
country,
and
it
can
afford
to
do
this.
Despite
the
war
in
Iraq,
we
are
still
the
richest
country
in
the
world,
and
we
let
people
with
serious
illnesses
hang
out
to
dry
without
health
insurance,
and
without
adequate
disability
and
other
government
support.
As
I've
written
before,
as a
cancer
patient
who
is
taking
two
very
expensive
drugs,
Herceptin
and
Avastin,
for
which
there
are
no
generics,
I'm
all
in
favor
of
countries
breaking
drug
patents
and
stopping
the
obscene
profiteering
on
sick
people's
misery.
Obviously,
I'm
not
an
unbiased
observer.