By Tim Kingston

The question about whether or not Brazil will break patents on three critical AIDS treatments, among them local pharmaceutical company Gilead's Viread (tenofovir), has become a high-stakes international poker game (see "Balm of Gilead," 7/6/05). Meanwhile, local AIDS activists are ramping up their efforts to persuade Gilead to endorse Brazilian generic production of its AIDS drug, in part by contacting Gilead board members and major shareholders George Shultz and Charlotte Mailliard Swig Shultz.

AIDS activists in Brazil and the United States want the Brazilian government to break the patents so the country can start manufacturing second-generation generic AIDS drugs for Brazil's 170,000 people with AIDS, and for export to other poor nations.

On July 14 the new Brazilian health minister, Jose Saraiva Felipe, declared – contrary to earlier reports – that no agreement had been reached with Abbott Laboratories on July 8 about reducing the price of Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir). Brazilian press reports indicated that agreement would have eventually reduced the price per pill from $1.17 to $.72 while preserving Abbott's patent. "When I took office, I saw that no deal had been sanctioned," Felipe said in an Associated Press report. He also said that Brazil wants the price to go down to 68 cents a pill.

Melissa Brotz, an Abbott spokesperson, said instead, "We are finalizing the agreement." But she also added, "I am not going to go into any detail."

John Iversen of ACT UP East Bay is part of a coalition of groups pressuring Gilead, Merck, and Abbott Laboratories to allow Brazil to manufacture cheap, generic versions of the AIDS drugs. "One hundred twenty Brazilian organizations demanded that, and that is why the Brazilian health minister broke the deal," Iversen said.

Locally, Iversen and other activists are keeping the pressure up on Gilead. Plans are afoot to picket Shultz's offices at the Hoover Institute, as well as to circulate a letter at Stanford University, where the institute is based. Shultz and his wife, Charlotte, both sit on the Gilead board of directors and own some $8.7 million worth of Gilead shares, said Iversen, adding,"They could use their influence to bring a fair and equitable decision on the issue."

Gilead spokesperson Jenna Conley said, "We have been in discussions with John Iversen and ACT UP, and we are happy to meet with them in person."