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www.fdanews.com/articles/73753-us-multinationals-to-meet-hiv-aids-groups-over-patents

US MULTINATIONALS TO MEET HIV/AIDS GROUPS OVER PATENTS

June 27, 2005

A coalition of NGOs is due to meet with representatives from three major drugmakers in Brazil today, amid the continued threat of the violation of patents on key ARV drugs. It is unclear whether senior officials from the government's US$500mn ARVs programme will attend.

Lobbying groups have denied they are seeking to "play off" the government against drug firms Abbott Laboratories, Merck and Roche. Meanwhile, Merck's country chief has continued to stoutly defend the firm's position on compulsory licensing in Brazil. In an article published in a leading business paper, José Tadeu Alves notes that Brazil's HIV infection rate does not meet "emergency" criteria and the current patent threats have no basis in law.

Further, the report claims the threat of patent violations has been instrumental in a severe decline in HIV/AIDS research in recent years. Between 1997 and 2003, the number of compounds in development for the disease halved to roughly 60. The number of ARV producers has also fallen by a quarter in the same period, to just 60 manufacturers worldwide.