Ecuador pays to bypass pharmaceutical patents
29 October 2009Foreign pharmaceutical firms have accepted payment from Ecuador's government which will allow the country to bypass patents on 2,000 drugs in order to produce local generic versions.
The payment was in response to a presidential decree issued under rules agreed by the WTO which define the issue of the "compulsory licence".
Other countries who have invoked the "compulsory licence" procedure include Brazil, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Malaysia and Indonesia.
