In an open letter sent to the National Congress, ABPI, together with other entities, defended the maintenance of the vetoes of Law 12/2021, resulting in the enactment of Law 14,200/21, which, in turn, amends art. 71 of the Industrial Property Law regarding the granting of compulsory patent licenses.
According to the document, “with the amendments, exceptional situations declared by the Federal Executive, or recognition of public calamity by the National Congress will automatically give rise to the possibility of issuing compulsory licenses”. He continues: “Science and innovative industries have shown effectiveness in the production of inputs, medicines and medical devices capable of responding to the emergency.”
The document attests that Brazil “has already vaccinated 88% of its population with the first dose and is moving quickly to reach total immunization level. We are an outstanding example that the voluntary cooperation of Brazilian laboratories and entities/companies (notably Fiocruz/AstraZeneca, Butantan/Sinovac, and, more recently, Pfizer/Eurofarma), besides supranational agreements, is fundamental for accessing products to fight the pandemic.”
The document concludes that, despite the context of the pandemic, “rare were the countries that used the granting of compulsory licenses to fight the current pandemic. And very few have changed their laws to address the issue.”
Read the full document on ABPI’s website by clicking here.
