Economy
Venezuelan Minister of Trade Eduardo Samán once again hinted curving patents to the pharmaceutical industry, claiming that such companies seek their own profits and sometimes invent diseases to boost sales of patented products.

"We are realizing that the pharmaceutical firms, protected by the patent system, are doing things to take people's money away," Samán said during a forum called "The Pharmaceutical Industry and the A H1N1 Influenza."

The official stressed that viruses are often created as a strategy of pharmaceutical industries to spur patented drugs trade and make additional profits, even at the expense of people's safety, reported state-run news agency Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN).

"When a virus is detected, the pharmaceutical multinationals have already created the vaccine and spread chaos among the population to market medicines," Samán concluded.