Ecuador licenses ritonavir patent to local distributor

In an earlier post ("Ecuador's compulsory licensing regime for medicines", here), IP Tango referred to Ecuador's Decree 118 -- the mechanism for granting compulsory licences in respect of patented medicines for both commercial and non-commercial used.

Writing for Intellectual Property Watch last month, Catherine Saez reports that the first such compulsory licence has now been granted. The product in question is ritonavir, an antiretroviral drug for which Abbott Laboratories hold the patent. The licensee is Indian generics company Cipla's local distributor, Eskegroup SA, and the compulsory licence will run until the expiry date of the patent, 30 November 2014.