Brazil Breaks Patent on AIDS Drug

In a sign that governments are indeed more powerful than corporations, Brazil is going to break a patent on an HIV drug. Brazil’s health ministry gives free HIV treatment and currently spends 28 percent of its total budget on this one drug. Though the article didn’t present the details, it looks like Brazil is going to pay something to the drug maker (under a compulsory license).

They couldn’t agree on specific terms, so Brazil created the terms unilaterally.