Indonesia has invoked its right under international trade rules to issue compulsory licenses to manufacturers to make generic versions of second-line antiretroviral (ARV) drugs still under patent, PlusNews reports. Under World Trade Organization rules, countries can override patents when it is for public health purposes. The move suggests that Indonesian officials believe there is an urgent need to provide such drugs. Second-line ARVs are given when first-line ARVs fail because patients have developed resistance, which commonly emerges in a population many years after the introduction of a drug.

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