Politics and IP: an unhealthy mix
Brazil has just gone through one of its toughest general elections in the last 30 years, in which the right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro came out victorious and will preside over the South American country from 2019 to 2022.
In the middle of the elections, an IP-related topic surfaced: a judicial decision that declared null the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (INPI) decision that allowed the patent application of the intermediary drug sofosbuvir, requested by Gilead Pharmasset.
The drug, when tested in preliminary trials, cured hepatitis C in 95% of cases. This decision was granted as a preliminary injunction by a federal judge of the Federal District of Brazil, in a lawsuit proposed by one of the former candidates for president of Brazil, Marina Silva, and her candidate for the vice-presidency, Eduardo Jorge.
