Abbot Lowers Price

Abbott Laboratories agreed to lower the price of its AIDS drug Kaletra in Brazil after the government threatened to break the company’s patent and produce the medication itself. Brazil would have been the first country ever to break a patent on an AIDS drug. The country will be able to make the drug locally after Abbott’s patent expires in 2015 and the company transfers its technology. The government estimates that 215,000 Brazilians will need AIDS drugs by 2008.