In rare move, Colom­bia is­sues com­pul­so­ry li­cense for HIV med­i­cine in ef­fort to ex­pand ac­cess

The Colom­bian gov­ern­ment on Wednes­day is­sued a com­pul­so­ry li­cense for a com­mon­ly used drug to treat HIV, the first time the gov­ern­ment there has stepped in to man­u­fac­ture a drug with­out the drug­mak­er’s per­mis­sion.

The com­pul­so­ry li­cense was is­sued for do­lute­gravir, which is man­u­fac­tured by Vi­iV Health­care, an HIV-fo­cused drug com­pa­ny op­er­at­ed by GSK. The li­cense gives Colom­bia’s min­istry of health the au­thor­i­ty to man­u­fac­ture the drug un­der a sys­tem es­tab­lished by a World Trade Or­ga­ni­za­tion agree­ment.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER