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 Right after signing the decree breaking the patent of Merck's anti-AIDS drug Efavirenz, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that the same may happen to other medications, in the future. "Today it's being used for this medication, tomorrow it might be used for another one," threatened the president.
The compulsory licensing, as the Brazilian government calls the patent breaking, might occur every time prices are "far from the Brazilian reality.... If the prices are not fair; not only for us, but for every human being infected on this planet we will have to make this decision."
Lula was warmly applauded when he declared to a crowd of AIDS patients and employees from the Health Ministry: "It is not right that anyone gets rich with the misfortune of others."
"Not only this is something rude from the ethical point of view, but it's also a disrespect from the political-economical point of view." And he completed by saying: "Having to choose between our trade and our health, we will take care of our health... We will not give up taking care of our people and we wish to take care of our companions with AIDS."
Lula has authorized Brazil to break the patent on Efavirenz importing a generic version from India instead. It's the first time Brazil has bypassed a patent to acquire cheaper drugs for its AIDS prevention program.
Merck said it was "profoundly disappointed" after talks over the drug's price broke down. Merck had offered a 30% cut on its 1.59 per pill price. Brazil's health ministry wanted to pay what Merck charges Thailand 65 US cents per pill, another country to negate World Health Organization rules on drug patents in the name of public health.
Brazil's government offers free access to AIDS' drugs condoms and syringes, a move that has helped stabilize infection rates at around 0.6% in adults - the same level as in the United States.
"Merck is profoundly disappointed by the decision of the Government of Brazil to issue a compulsory license for Stocrin (Efavirenz), which would break Merck & Co Inc.'s patent and make it possible for Efavirenz to be produced by a generic manufacturer", said the company in an official release.
"Merck has attempted to negotiate in good faith with Brazil, but a fair offer on Stocrin has been rejected. While we remain flexible and committed to exploring a mutually acceptable agreement with the Brazilian government to help the country achieve its objective of universal access to treatment, we believe their action is not in the best interests of patients in Brazil and around the world."
Further on it states that "this expropriation of intellectual property sends a chilling signal to research-based companies about the attractiveness of undertaking risky research on diseases that affect the developing world, potentially hurting patients who may require new and innovative life-saving therapies."
Brazil will not proceed to import the generic version from three laboratories in India, certified by WHO, saving an estimated US$ 30 million annually, said Health minister José Gomes Temporão.
"We will be paying Merck 1.5% royalty on the price of the generic version imported from India".
Brazil argues its decision is protected by the 2001 Trips agreement in the framework of the World Trade Organization which enables developing countries to privilege public health over intellectual property.
Bzz, Mercopress
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The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.
Honor to contract is fundamental to global confidence in a market. The 30 percent reduction offered by Merk is significant. And Thailand is an infinitely poorer country than Brazil whose origins are neolithic. There is little comparison betwen Thailand and Brazil economicaly. Brizil's potential is on a par with Canada. Clean water and sewage would affect many more Brazilians lives than Merk's drugs. The security of investment is a matter of perception, and the endorsement of what amounts to the piracy of intellectual property will not bode well in the perception of golbal Banking and Investment firsms.