Brazil's Superior Justice Court (STJ) on Wednesday decided to revoke the patent of the erectile dysfunction medicine Viagra, from U.S. laboratories Prizer.

According to the decision, which still can be appealed to the country's highest court, the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the Viagra patent expires in June. After that, other labs will be allowed to produce a generic version of the medicine.

The Prizer lab had won a previous round in the court, which had allowed the company to retain Viagra's patent until June 7, 2011. However, Brazil's National Industry of Industrial Property (INPI) decided to appeal on the decision, and won by five votes to one on Wednesday.

The STJ's decision opened a precedent for other similar cases, which are currently pending in the Brazilian courts.

It is not the first time that Brazil has revoked the patent of a medicine. Since the 1990s, the country has managed to cancel several patents of AIDS medicines, which allowed the production of generics and the expansion of the AIDS treatment in the country. The program is usually subsidized by the government.

According to local newspaper O Globo, the STF's decision may cause Viagra's price to fall 30 percent. The medicine is notoriously expensive in Brazil.

(Source: Xinhua)