Slashdot Mirror
Brazil Breaks Patent to Make AIDS Drug
Andy Tai writes: "In this CNN story, Brazil decides to break a patent over an AIDS drug for public benefits. Brazil will produce the drug domestically without agreements with patent holder, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche. Brazil's efforts to fight AIDS have been praised internationally, and it successfully prevented the US Government from bringing complaints in the WTO on behalf of the drugs industry. This may set an important example that public needs justify the disregard of patent protection." There's another article in the Boston Globe about the decision.
There are a few reasons this is a bad trend. Now they are using a public health problem as an excuse to void a valid international patent because they did not get the agreement they wanted. This plays very well in the press, "bad evil company would rather see people die than sell their stuff cheaper" instead of saying "country refuses to pay a fair price for drugs to save its own people"
Want a story that is similar, but on a more "person" level. White farmers losing their property in Zimbabwe, because its not fair that they have it.
This is the new trend, government are going to take what they want and justify it in any shape or form. While they start off doing this with the cover of "saving lives" how long before it becomes anything they want?
So here are some of the real problems.
1. Basically Brazil breaks the agreed internation law and makes the stuff for free, thereby forcing other nations to either follow their example of pay the difference. (see South Africa's example - do it or we take your companies assests)
2. Reduces the possibility of region specific drugs NOT being developed because companies rightfully fear losing all investment. (some diseases are more prevalent in certain areas of the world - that is an obvious statement).
3. Raises spectre of loss of intellectual property on other levels, and more and more are confiscated for the "public good"
4. Increases the likelyhood of similar industries leaving "hostile" countries furthering the problem that country faces.
When do we stop? Who can judge what is a fair price for something? Who can judge what can fairly be patented?
Apparently people are willing to allow those with the guns to do it, and not realize its the first step to losing their own rights.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
The Big Pharma can either put up or shut up. They had two options: negotiate reasonable drug prices with Brazil and still make profit or lose every chance for profit. Any self-respecting government will opt for patent infringement if it is a way to save the lives of their citizens.
It will be a sad day indeed if and when the corporations become so big and so powerful that sovereign governments won't dare to tread on them if necessary.
OK, so the subject line is a little inflammitory, and thus, by actually stating an opinion, I too am moderator-bait. We share that much at least. ;)
But as for your opinion itself... can you actually be serious?
You've got a country full of dying people. There's a drug available that can save a goodly number of them. It's expensive, and you're poor. You have the ability to reverse-engineer the drug (or just steal the formula outright, whatever) and produce it yourself for minimal cost.
Would you, as the leader of this country, REALLY allow people to DIE a slow, lingering, and very painful death just because a piece of paper says you have too?
I'm sorry, not me. As a hypothetical Brazillian leader, my duty is to serve the people of my country, not some foreign drug company. If they won't play ball on price, then we do what we gotta do to save them.
The point on education is a salient one, but this is not a zero-sum game - producing the drug does not mean a reduction in education, nor does increasing education do a dammned thing for those already infected.
This case is one of the best examples for the "IP is bogus, information wants to be free" position that I've seen. We're not talking about music files or games here, this is information that will actually SAVE REAL HUMAN LIVES, that a corporation wants hidden and protected SO IT CAN MAKE MONEY.
If that doesn't make you sick to your stomach, I don't know what will.
This is my real issue with the Libertarians of the world. There is no place in their world-view for the public project, done for the benefit of mankind. Everything must have a profit motive, and protecting profits has priority over all else.
Just like Marxist-Leninism goes too far, by wanting _everything_ state-owned and state-run, Libertarian goes too far by giving all control to the private sector. Either extreme is insane. The Real World requires compromise, and I for one am glad to see Brazil stick up for REAL freedom, and do what is right.
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
Absolutely - we're talking about people's lives here.
:-(
These pharmaceutical companies are turning over _billions_ every year, making bucketloads of cash out of other people's misery.
Now, I don't deny them their profits; sure, the only way to keep making scientific (medical) advances is though continuous investment...
I guess that's what happends when businessmen (and women) run businesses rather than the scientists and the engineers.
It's all a trade-off; if Roche (and its contemporaries) were run by scientists for the benefit of ordinary folks, then they'd be in administration (Chapter 11 for you US folks) within weeks
matthew
The more advanced the technology, the more open it is to primitive attack
I do wish people would stop it with the "how are they going to fund research?" crap. If you look at the big picture of drug research, and where the costs really are, you would see that a lot of it is inflated numbers caused by "economic factors" and other such nonsense. That is how a lot of universities are able to continue to do excellent pharma research. The companies are hindered for less noble reasons than academia.
Hi! This is the Sig, blatantly attached to the end of this comment.
If Brazil has no money to buy the drugs, we get one of two situations:
1. Brazilians with AIDS have no money to buy drugs. Therefore, the drug companies get no money from them, and the AIDS patients die.
or
2. Brazilians with AIDS have no money to buy drugs. The Brazilian govt violates the patent, the patients get their drugs, but the drug companies get no money from them.
Looks like #1 is a lose-lose situation.
At least in scenerio #2, the people get their drugs.
-J5K
The libertarian solution to the failures of capitalism is to apply more capitalism til the failures are fixed.