Brazilian drug patent suspension will impact big biopharma

While the suspension of patent extensions in Brazil could lead to lower drug prices and cheaper generic drugs, this move may deter large biopharma companies from marketing innovative drugs in Brazil in the future, says data and analytics company.

In April 2021, a Brazilian Supreme Court Judge, Justice Dias Toffoli, announced the temporary suspension of pharmaceutical drug patents to address the “public health emergency” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

GlobalData’s associate director for drugs and business fundamentals, Sharon Cartic, comments: “The current Brazilian patent law means biopharma companies are entitled to up to 20 years of patent protection. The temporary suspension of extensions will allow urgent generic drugs for COVID-19 and its variants to be developed. According to GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center Drugs database, over 200 drugs approved in Brazil from 2001 to 2006 may be affected, a large proportion of which are developed by large biopharma companies headquartered in the US and Europe.”