Brazil and Argentina Agree Pact On AIDS Medicines

Brazil and Argentina have agreed a policy to develop and manufacture HIV/AIDS medicines in what health ministers from both countries are calling a 'front against the monopolies of medicines patents'. Notably, according to remarks made by Argentine health minister Ginés González García, the policy entails 'manufacturing of local origin', suggesting the sort of public-private initiative that Brazil in particular has advanced under President Luiz Inácio da Silva. The move could present a long-term challenge to multinational producers of anti-retroviral (ARVs) medicines even as these companies have adjusted their pricing policies to fend off threats by countries wishing to implement compulsory

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