Brazilian president Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva has concluded that saving lives is more important than the overabused patent system.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took steps Friday to let Brazil buy or produce an inexpensive generic version of an AIDS drug made by Merck & Co. despite the U.S. drug company’s patent.
Lula da Silva issued a “compulsory license” that would bypass Merck’s patent on the AIDS drug efavirenz, a day after the Brazilian government rejected Merck’s offer to sell the drug at a 30 percent discount, or $1.10 per pill, down from $1.57.
I’m all for private property, but intellectual property is a concept that has been just plainly abused in the past decades. When someone “takes” a patent, the patent owner isn’t losing anything. Brazil isn’t gathering an army and raiding Merck’s supplies, expropriating their factories, or nationalizing their labs; they’re just refusing to pay Merck a tax on the production of a medicine.
As far as I’m concerned, Lula made the right call. Now, if only countries stop being such hypocrites and accepted that if they have the right to refuse to pay an arbitrary tax, then people should have the same right as well…