Abbott Laboratories has agreed to provide Brazil's Health Ministry with cheaper access to its Kaletra AIDS drug after the country threatened to break the patent earlier this year.
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Abbott said that the agreement would allow the company to reach its objectives of helping Brazil expand patient access to Kaletra while preserving its intellectual property rights.
Although Abbott stated that the agreement did not specify a per-capsule price, Brazil’s Health Ministry quoted former Health Minister Humberto Costa as saying that the agreed price would be similar to other generic AIDS drugs made in India.
Abbott also said that it would provide assistance to Brazil to enable local manufacture of Kaletra for HIV/AIDS patients in Brazil once the patent expires in 2015.