Brazil to break Aids drug patent

Brazil’s president has authorised the country to bypass the patent on an Aids drug manufactured by Merck, a US pharmaceutical giant.The country will import a cheaper, generic Indian-made version of the patented Efavirenz drug. The decision came after talks between Brazil and the US company broke down.

Merck had offered Brazil a 30% discount on the cost of the drugs but the country wanted to pay the same price as Thailand, which gets a larger discount.

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