Drugmakers May Need to Rethink Pricing After Brazil Nixes Patent

A Brazilian judge’s decision to annul a Gilead Sciences Inc. drug patent is likely to have a ripple effect on other pharmaceutical companies doing business there and make them rethink their pricing strategy.

Federal court judge Rolando Valcir Spanholo in Brasilia issued an injunction canceling the patent granted for sofosbuvir, the key component of Gilead’s blockbuster hepatitis C drug Sovaldi. Brazil’s patent office, the National Industrial Property Institute (INPI), had granted the patent a few days earlier.

The ruling will be “very important” if it holds up to challenge, said Gerard P. Norton, a patent attorney at Fox Rothschild LLP ...