Andean Tribunal Upholds Flexible Duration for Compulsory Licenses in Key HIV Drug Case

By Castillo Grau Abogados

On April 27, 2026, the Court of Justice of the Andean Community (TJCA) unanimously rejected an action brought by ViiV Healthcare Company and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. against the Republic of Colombia. The dispute concerned whether Colombia had violated Article 65 of Decision 486 of the Andean Intellectual Property Regime by granting a compulsory license on the Dolutegravir patent without establishing a fixed and definitive duration.

The case arose after Colombia’s Ministry of Health declared in October 2023 that there were public interest grounds to issue a compulsory license for Dolutegravir, a key antiretroviral drug considered by the World Health Organization as an essential medicine for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. The decision came amid a significant increase in HIV cases in Colombia.

In April 2024, Colombia’s Superintendence of Industry and Commerce formally granted the compulsory license. Its duration was subject to several conditions, including the persistence of public interest grounds, the validity of the patent, compliance with regulatory requirements, and a maximum end date of April 28, 2026.

The claimants argued that Colombia failed to define a genuine temporal limit, as the license depended on the continued existence of public interest conditions without clear termination criteria. Colombia countered that Andean law does not require a fixed calendar date, but rather a duration linked to the circumstances justifying the measure.

The TJCA held that Article 65 allows for both fixed and “determinable” durations, provided that objective and verifiable criteria exist to establish when the license must end. It emphasized that duration may depend on the persistence of the conditions that justified the compulsory license, as long as it is not left entirely open-ended.

The Court also confirmed that Colombia’s framework included sufficient safeguards, such as a maximum end date, legal conditions tied to public health needs, and monitoring mechanisms for HIV treatment access.

As a result, the TJCA dismissed the claim in its entirety, affirming that Colombia complied with Andean Community law.