In Argentina, opponents estimate that proposed changes would triple drug prices. Union and public health officials in Brazil predict that the proposal there would price many drugs out of the reach of 30 million of the country's poorest citizens. The USTR threatened to impose trade sanctions on Brazil in October 1995 if it had not adopted a U.S.-approved patent law. Brazil's patent bill has passed the House and key Senate committees. For now, the USTR seems to be sufficiently satisfied with these steps to postpone its threat.
Frictions are hotter with Argentina.
Menem vetoed provisions of the bill that most offended the United States, but the Parliament overrode his veto. In mid-October, an unusual Menem decree established a regulatory framework for the corrective law that eviscerates the transition period. They argued, however, that this cost would be outweighed by the consumer benefits of expanded trade. But South American patent laws demonstrate how the new trade regimen can corrode self-determination and crowd out equity, even where important policy goals such as access to health care are concerned. Multinationals will reap the benefits of expanded patent drug trafficking, as wealth shifts from South American consumers to North American pharmaceutical giants and as monopoly drug prices rise beyond the reach of the poor.