In the latest battle over access to medicines, Colombian authorities have decided to issue a compulsory license for a needed HIV treatment, a step that underscores ongoing friction between the pharmaceutical industry and cash-strapped governments around the world.
By issuing such a license, the Colombian government hopes to obtain lower-cost generic versions of an HIV medicine called dolutegravir, which is made by ViiV Healthcare, a company that specializes in HIV treatments and is largely controlled by GSK. The treatment is known commercially as Tivicay, or as Dovato when combined with other medicines.
“There should be a tendency to generate greater efficiencies in the health system with a view to guaranteeing the full enjoyment and access of Colombian population to the fundamental right to health, which constitutes a public interest that the Colombian state must pursue,” Colombian Health Minister Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo explained in a 69-page declaration issued on Monday.