Cuba backs Brazil in AIDS drug patent row

The government of Cuba has declared its support for Brazil in its battlewith the USA over the latter's claim, which is currently the subject of World Trade Organization arbitration action, that Brazil's 1997 patent legislation discriminates against imported drugs (Marketletter February 12).

A statement from Cuba's Foreign Ministry said that Brazil's argument that it has the right to manufacture cheaper generic versions of imported HIV/AIDS treatments would contribute to "broader and sounder solutions in the fight against AIDS," according to Reuters reports.

"It is unacceptable that commercial interests, technicalities or the desire for profit be pitted against the right of the people to find solutions to disease that constitute a source of humanity," the Ministry statement added. It went on to criticize pharmaceutical majors for "seeking huge profits, where the lives and suffering of millions of people are at stake," and said that the USA was "once more siding with those whose interest in excessive profits clashes with vital human interests, including the most basic right to life."