UPDATE: Indonesia considers three more CLs

Three second-line antiretroviral drugs are being considered for compulsory licensing by the Indonesian government, adding to the three front-line treatments already affected by the exploitation of a loophole in the World Trade Organization's Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights (TRIPs). This allows compulsory licensing in cases where a WTO member considers that a public health interest is served.

Samsuridjal Djauzi, a physician who also lectures at the University of Indonesia in the country's capital, Jakarta, told Intellectual Property Watch that the US developed drugs Gilead's Viread (tenofivir), Bristol-Myers Squibb's Videx (didanosine) and Abbott Laboratories' Kaletra/Aluvia (lopinavir) are being investigated by his team on behalf of the Indonesian Ministry of Health. Dr Djauzi added that about 10,000 HIV/AIDS patients in Indonesia are using first-line ARVs, of which less than 5% would develop resistance.