USA drops WTO drug charge against Brazil

The USA has dropped the complaint filed with the World TradeOrganization against Brazil's patent law, in which it had claimed that the law's requirement that patent-holders in Brazil must manufacture patented products in the country, rather than import them, was in violation of WTO rules (Marketletter February 12).

The two countries had come to an understanding over the issue, said Brazilian trade negotiator Jose Alfredo Graca Lima, describing it as "a victory for both sides, a victory for common sense." A statement by the Brazilian government noted that its law was "an important instrument available to the government, in particular in its efforts to increase access of the population to medicines and to combat diseases such as AIDS."

US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said the US complaint had had nothing to do with HIV/AIDS drugs and was a general patent case, reports the Associated Press. He added that, even without its law, Brazil could use other options to keep drug costs down, noting that the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement allows local manufacture of drugs in times of national emergency.