Abbott Laboratories Friday agreed to again lower the price the Brazilian government pays for Abbott's AIDS drug Kaletra, resolving a dispute in which the country threatened to seize patents on the popular treatment for the HIV virus.
Abbott cuts price Brazil pays for AIDS drug Kaletra
By Bruce Japsen, Tribune staff reporter. Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report
Published July 9, 2005
Abbott Laboratories Friday agreed to again lower the price the Brazilian government pays for Abbott's AIDS drug Kaletra, resolving a dispute in which the country threatened to seize patents on the popular treatment for the HIV virus.
Brazil had threatened to break Abbott's patent on Kaletra and manufacture it in its state-owned drug plant in Rio de Janeiro if it didn't get a price break from the North Chicago company.
Abbott would not disclose terms of its agreement with the Brazilian government but said the price of Kaletra will decrease as the number of patients taking the drug rises in coming years.
Brazil's threat to issue a compulsory license order allowing drugmakers to copy and produce one of Abbott's top-selling drugs drew the wrath of several groups that have urged Congress to take actions that include economic sanctions.
"We were not willing to compromise our intellectual property under any circumstances," Abbott spokeswoman Melissa Brotz said.
"Throughout this process, we were mindful of the importance of the outcome of this issue, which has implications beyond our company and our industry for all innovators," Brotz added. "We are committed to protecting our intellectual property so that innovation flourishes."
Even before the latest price cut, Abbott previously negotiated with Brazil to bring its price for Kaletra down to $2,562 a year--less than half of what developed countries pay. In the United States, where the price is the highest, the drug costs about $7,000 a year.
Abbott says Kaletra in Brazil is already sold at the lowest price outside Africa, where the firm subsidizes its price as part of a humanitarian access program. The price Brazil pays for Kaletra was already lower than anywhere else except for Africa and other underdeveloped countries that participate in that program.
Critics said Brazil was hardly a country in crisis, citing its fast-growing economy and low AIDS infection rate.
Brazil is considered a success story in containing AIDS in a developing nation. With continuous and frank safer-sex campaigns, the Latin American country of 183 million people has succeeded in keeping the spread of HIV infections to levels similar to those in Western Europe. The Brazilian government buys the drug and distributes it free to many patients.
In recent years, Brazil has repeatedly managed to get price reductions from pharmaceutical firms by threatening to break patents. It was also in negotiations with two other AIDS drugmakers, Merck & Co. and Gilead Sciences Inc.
Kaletra is one of Abbott's best-selling medicines and on pace to generate more than $1 billion in worldwide sales this year. |
