Cuba issues double trade challenge

Fidel Castro wants countries to ignore US patent laws

Cuban President Fidel Castro says Cuba has developed its own Aids drugs and will help Brazil and South Africa challenge US patent laws to provide cheaper treatments for Aids sufferers.

Referring to the multi-pill treatments, the president confirmed that Cuba is producing "those famous cocktails", and challenged multinational pharmaceutical companies to protest.

I would like to hear a protest so I could grin from ear to ear

President Castro

The US in particular has been accused of using patent laws to try to stop developing nations producing drugs generically, insisting they import American-made drugs at Western prices.

In a separate development, Castro said that Cuba would ignore US trademark laws and start producing its own Bacardi-brand rums as a reprisal for "the theft of our Havana Club brand."

His comments follow the Bacardi corporation's announcement that it would produce a Havana Club brand rum for sale in the United States.

Loopholes

Last week, the European Parliament called for the creation of loopholes in patent laws that keep high-priced Aids drugs from sufferers in the developing countries, particularly South Africa.

Calls for cheaper drugs are becoming louder

It also urged 39 pharmaceutical companies to withdraw their court challenge to a 1997 South African law that allows the government to licence and manufacture affordable "generic" versions of expensive brand-name drugs.

Brazil has also launched production of generic anti-viral drugs in order to provide government-subsidised treatment to tens of thousands of people infected with the virus.

"We will fully support Brazil and South Africa, encouraging them to ignore US patents and produce the drugs to save the millions of lives that can be saved," said President Castro.

Official Aids treatments can cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per patient per year, far beyond the reach of a huge majority of sufferers.

By comparison, generic treatments can cost as little as $1 per sufferer per day.