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#1 2005-06-25 4:27 am
Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Brazil has threatened to break the patent on an anti-Aids drug in order to make a cheaper generic version.
Health Minister Humberto Costa said the price of the Kaletra drug was so high it represented a risk to public health.
The government has given US company Abbott Laboratories 10 days to either agree to lower its prices or allow generic copies.
Abbott said patients would lose out in the long run if Brazil went ahead with its threat.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4621735.stm
Holy cow! Go Brazil!
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#2 2005-06-25 6:27 am
- SonicSamurai
- Tachikoma!

- From: Section 9
- Registered: 2003-01-28
- Posts: 5129
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
but.....the free market would have fixed it! :whaa!:
</sarcasm>
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#3 2005-06-25 6:47 am
- Pariah
- James Carville Fan..

- From: Belly Of The Beast, Oklahoma!
- Registered: 2001-05-24
- Posts: 18399
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Health Minister Humberto Costa said the price of the Kaletra drug was so high it represented a risk to public health.
Yep. While this will piss off the materialist right wingers for whom profit is the overarching moral value this is the right thing to do.
"and it's not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Barack Obama
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#4 2005-06-25 9:02 am
- Farmerkev
- Official Dementor
- Moderator
- Registered: 2003-01-03
- Posts: 18611
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Pariah wrote:
Health Minister Humberto Costa said the price of the Kaletra drug was so high it represented a risk to public health.
Yep. While this will piss off the materialist right wingers for whom profit is the overarching moral value this is the right thing to do.
See, down deep you're really an urban planner kind of guy.
Do your part to combat global warming.
Eat a cow.
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#5 2005-06-25 10:26 am
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Pariah wrote:
Health Minister Humberto Costa said the price of the Kaletra drug was so high it represented a risk to public health.
Yep. While this will piss off the materialist right wingers for whom profit is the overarching moral value this is the right thing to do.
Do you have any idea how much it cost to make it in the first place?
Just like back in Saigon! Eh, slick?
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#6 2005-06-25 10:40 am
- ShnickyShnack
- ::: title edited due to Satanic influences :::

- From: Rockin' out
- Registered: 2001-05-25
- Posts: 22237
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Steyr AUG wrote:
Pariah wrote:
Health Minister Humberto Costa said the price of the Kaletra drug was so high it represented a risk to public health.
Yep. While this will piss off the materialist right wingers for whom profit is the overarching moral value this is the right thing to do.
Do you have any idea how much it cost to make it in the first place?
Uh ... do you?
And have they made it back by now?
Note: please delete this post.
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#7 2005-06-25 10:48 am
- Gr@sshopper
- Redtailed mountain goat
- From: Claremont CA
- Registered: 2001-05-01
- Posts: 1584
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
And guess how much of it's costs were advertising, and how much of the development costs came from grant funded state university labs?
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#8 2005-06-25 10:50 am
- ShnickyShnack
- ::: title edited due to Satanic influences :::

- From: Rockin' out
- Registered: 2001-05-25
- Posts: 22237
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Gr@sshopper wrote:
And guess how much of it's costs were advertising, and how much of the development costs came from grant funded state university labs?
Don't forget tax credits and deductions.
Note: please delete this post.
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#9 2005-06-25 10:56 am
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Gr@sshopper wrote:
And guess how much of it's costs were advertising, and how much of the development costs came from grant funded state university labs?
That may offset some of the costs, but you also have to take into account the costs of developing drugs that dont bear fruit. Acording to tufts inst it costs about $800 million to develop a new drug, thats a lot of money considering many dont work out.
Just like back in Saigon! Eh, slick?
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#10 2005-06-25 11:01 am
- ShnickyShnack
- ::: title edited due to Satanic influences :::

- From: Rockin' out
- Registered: 2001-05-25
- Posts: 22237
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Steyr AUG wrote:
Gr@sshopper wrote:
And guess how much of it's costs were advertising, and how much of the development costs came from grant funded state university labs?
That may offset some of the costs, but you also have to take into account the costs of developing drugs that dont bear fruit. Acording to tufts inst it costs about $800 million to develop a new drug, thats a lot of money considering many dont work out.
Golly, how do they stay in business?
Note: please delete this post.
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#11 2005-06-25 11:04 am
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
ShnickyShnack wrote:
Steyr AUG wrote:
Gr@sshopper wrote:
And guess how much of it's costs were advertising, and how much of the development costs came from grant funded state university labs?
That may offset some of the costs, but you also have to take into account the costs of developing drugs that dont bear fruit. Acording to tufts inst it costs about $800 million to develop a new drug, thats a lot of money considering many dont work out.
Golly, how do they stay in business?
It must be a neocon conspiracy.
Just like back in Saigon! Eh, slick?
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#12 2005-06-25 11:10 am
- ShnickyShnack
- ::: title edited due to Satanic influences :::

- From: Rockin' out
- Registered: 2001-05-25
- Posts: 22237
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Steyr AUG wrote:
ShnickyShnack wrote:
Steyr AUG wrote:
That may offset some of the costs, but you also have to take into account the costs of developing drugs that dont bear fruit. Acording to tufts inst it costs about $800 million to develop a new drug, thats a lot of money considering many dont work out.Golly, how do they stay in business?
It must be a neocon conspiracy.
..... aaaaand thus skyler surrenders.
Note: please delete this post.
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#13 2005-06-25 11:11 am
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
ShnickyShnack wrote:
Steyr AUG wrote:
ShnickyShnack wrote:
Golly, how do they stay in business?It must be a neocon conspiracy.
..... aaaaand thus skyler surrenders.
Whatever happened to minithink 30, sty |-85|?
Just like back in Saigon! Eh, slick?
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#14 2005-06-25 11:24 am
- [Tycho?]
- As Elusive As Doubt

- From: May the best sentience win
- Registered: 2000-06-19
- Posts: 3209
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Good for them.
I could bore you with a philosophical tirade about freedom and tyranny, or try and explain to you what new horizons are suddenly open to me, but I doubt you would understand and if you did it might frighten you. That amuses me.
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#15 2005-06-25 11:26 am
- Gr@sshopper
- Redtailed mountain goat
- From: Claremont CA
- Registered: 2001-05-01
- Posts: 1584
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Steyr AUG wrote:
Gr@sshopper wrote:
And guess how much of it's costs were advertising, and how much of the development costs came from grant funded state university labs?
That may offset some of the costs, but you also have to take into account the costs of developing drugs that dont bear fruit. Acording to tufts inst it costs about $800 million to develop a new drug, thats a lot of money considering many dont work out.
Yep. The state schools use NSF money, find a new molecule, find it won't work for a drug
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#16 2005-06-25 11:32 am
- dv
- Negusa Negest
- Moderator

- From: Minneapolis, MN
- Registered: 1999-08-30
- Posts: 18085
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
If the company in question had hone for a minimal profit margin, they should have been able to make it up on volume easily enough - there's no shortage of AIDS patients. IMO, this is one area where the Dell business model is a moral imperative, even if that means it takes a little longer to break even.
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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#17 2005-06-25 12:24 pm
- Pariah
- James Carville Fan..

- From: Belly Of The Beast, Oklahoma!
- Registered: 2001-05-24
- Posts: 18399
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
If people were starving no one would object (well normal people anyways) to tons of free food being flown in.
For some reason we see health care as a luxury even tho it is just as much a life or death matter.
"and it's not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Barack Obama
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#18 2005-06-25 12:39 pm
- Farmerkev
- Official Dementor
- Moderator
- Registered: 2003-01-03
- Posts: 18611
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Pariah wrote:
If people were starving no one would object (well normal people anyways) to tons of free food being flown in.
For some reason we see health care as a luxury even tho it is just as much a life or death matter.
False comparison.
Nobody comes out to my farm and takes my grain and then gives it to someone else. It's paid for first.
If I want to give someone my property, that's up to me.
Do your part to combat global warming.
Eat a cow.
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#19 2005-06-25 1:10 pm
- Pariah
- James Carville Fan..

- From: Belly Of The Beast, Oklahoma!
- Registered: 2001-05-24
- Posts: 18399
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Farmerkev wrote:
Pariah wrote:
If people were starving no one would object (well normal people anyways) to tons of free food being flown in.
For some reason we see health care as a luxury even tho it is just as much a life or death matter.False comparison.
Nobody comes out to my farm and takes my grain and then gives it to someone else. It's paid for first.
If I want to give someone my property, that's up to me.
Nobody is taking any Pharmaceutical companies stock of drugs.
They are going to produce them by infringing on their patent.
Only a moron cannot distinguish between infringement of IP and the actual stealing of goods.
If a sovereign nation determines that to avert a national health crisis certain measures are necessary then not only is it their right, it is their obligation to do what is best for their people. Think of it as eminent domain applied to patents.
"and it's not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Barack Obama
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#20 2005-06-25 1:20 pm
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Pariah wrote:
Farmerkev wrote:
Pariah wrote:
If people were starving no one would object (well normal people anyways) to tons of free food being flown in.
For some reason we see health care as a luxury even tho it is just as much a life or death matter.False comparison.
Nobody comes out to my farm and takes my grain and then gives it to someone else. It's paid for first.
If I want to give someone my property, that's up to me.Nobody is taking any Pharmaceutical companies stock of drugs.
They are going to produce them by infringing on their patent.
Only a moron cannot distinguish between infringement of IP and the actual stealing of goods.
If a sovereign nation determines that to avert a national health crisis certain measures are necessary then not only is it their right, it is their obligation to do what is best for their people. Think of it as eminent domain applied to patents.
Nice way to discourage future drug development.
Just like back in Saigon! Eh, slick?
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#21 2005-06-25 1:24 pm
- Gr@sshopper
- Redtailed mountain goat
- From: Claremont CA
- Registered: 2001-05-01
- Posts: 1584
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Farmerkev wrote:
Pariah wrote:
If people were starving no one would object (well normal people anyways) to tons of free food being flown in.
For some reason we see health care as a luxury even tho it is just as much a life or death matter.False comparison.
Nobody comes out to my farm and takes my grain and then gives it to someone else. It's paid for first.
If I want to give someone my property, that's up to me.
Yeah, but if you charged 10k a bushel, refused to negotiate a lower price with people who were poor and starving, and a very, very large percentage of the cost of growing was paid for by the gubmnt, I don't particularly have an issue with stealing from you.
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#22 2005-06-25 1:39 pm
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Gr@sshopper wrote:
Farmerkev wrote:
Pariah wrote:
If people were starving no one would object (well normal people anyways) to tons of free food being flown in.
For some reason we see health care as a luxury even tho it is just as much a life or death matter.False comparison.
Nobody comes out to my farm and takes my grain and then gives it to someone else. It's paid for first.
If I want to give someone my property, that's up to me.Yeah, but if you charged 10k a bushel, refused to negotiate a lower price with people who were poor and starving, and a very, very large percentage of the cost of growing was paid for by the gubmnt, I don't particularly have an issue with stealing from you.
Interesting how you went from wondering how much research was done at federally funded universities to asserting that a "very, very large percentage" was paid by the government.
Just like back in Saigon! Eh, slick?
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#23 2005-06-25 1:45 pm
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Steyr AUG wrote:
Pariah wrote:
Health Minister Humberto Costa said the price of the Kaletra drug was so high it represented a risk to public health.
Yep. While this will piss off the materialist right wingers for whom profit is the overarching moral value this is the right thing to do.
Do you have any idea how much it cost to make it in the first place?
While I sympathize with research costs, how much is a human life that dies because they can not afford the drug worth?
There are times when the most moral thing to do is for government to force compromise - sure, the researchers should be paid and even allowed to profit, but not at the cost of keeping the drug to only certain classes of people (the wealthy).
Government is responsible imho for subsidizing to some extent, but high prices then take advantage of government subsidy. That seems to be why Brasil has made the ultimatum.
In her right hand Jenny held the Bible of her mother
Jenny had a pistol in the other
-- Steve Taylor
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#24 2005-06-25 1:47 pm
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
resedit wrote:
Steyr AUG wrote:
Pariah wrote:
Yep. While this will piss off the materialist right wingers for whom profit is the overarching moral value this is the right thing to do.Do you have any idea how much it cost to make it in the first place?
While I sympathize with research costs, how much is a human life that dies because they can not afford the drug worth?
There are times when the most moral thing to do is for government to force compromise - sure, the researchers should be paid and even allowed to profit, but not at the cost of keeping the drug to only certain classes of people (the wealthy).
Government is responsible imho for subsidizing to some extent, but high prices then take advantage of government subsidy. That seems to be why Brasil has made the ultimatum.
If it wasnt for the expectation of profit, far less people would be motivated to create drugs.
Just like back in Saigon! Eh, slick?
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#25 2005-06-25 2:01 pm
Re: Brazil may break Aids drug patent
Steyr AUG wrote:
resedit wrote:
Steyr AUG wrote:
Do you have any idea how much it cost to make it in the first place?While I sympathize with research costs, how much is a human life that dies because they can not afford the drug worth?
There are times when the most moral thing to do is for government to force compromise - sure, the researchers should be paid and even allowed to profit, but not at the cost of keeping the drug to only certain classes of people (the wealthy).
Government is responsible imho for subsidizing to some extent, but high prices then take advantage of government subsidy. That seems to be why Brasil has made the ultimatum.If it wasnt for the expectation of profit, far less people would be motivated to create drugs.
There's profit - and there's raping the market.
In the US - we have passed good laws to help prevent the latter, such as anti-trust laws that limit what a monopoly can do.
This seems to me like this scenario isn't anti-trust, but is same spirit as anti-trust - using their exclusive patent to rape the market.
In her right hand Jenny held the Bible of her mother
Jenny had a pistol in the other
-- Steve Taylor
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